Abdul Ali Mazari (1947 – March 1995) was a political leader of the Hezbe Wahdat during and following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Mazari was an ethnic Hazara, and believed the solution to the internal divisions in Afghanistan was in a federal system of governance, with each ethnic group having specific constitutional rights.
Abdul Ali Mazari was born in the village of Charkent, south of the northern city of Mazari Sharif. Hence, the surname, "Mazari". He began his primary schooling in theology at the local school in his village, then went to Mazari Sharif, and later to Qom in Iran, and to Najaf in Iraq.
Simultaneously with the occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Red Army, Abdul Ali Mazari returned to his birthplace and gained a prominent place in the anti-Soviet resistance movement. During the first years of the resistance, he lost his young brother, Mohammed Sultan, during a battle against the Soviet-backed forces. He soon lost his sister and other members of his family in the resistance. His uncle, Mohammad Ja'afar, and his son, Mohammad Afzal, were imprisoned and killed by the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. He also lost his father, Haji Khudadad, and his brother, Haji Mohammad Nabi, in the rebellion and resistance movement.
Abdul Ali Mazari was one of the founding members and the first leader of the Hezbe Wahdat ("Unity Party"). In the first party congress in Bamiyan, he was elected leader of the Central Committee and in the second congress, he was elected Secretary General. Mazari's initiative led to the creation of the Jonbesh-e Shamal or (Northern Movement), in which the country's most significant military forces joined ranks with the rebels, leading to a coup d'état and the eventual downfall of the Communist regime in Kabul.
On March 12, 1995, the Taliban arrested him along with his five companions in Chaharasyab, near Kabul. The following day Mazari was executed and his body was found in a district of Ghazni aged 49. The Taliban issued a statement that Mazari had attacked the Taliban guards while being flown to Qandahar. Later his body and those of his companions were handed over to Hezb-e Wahdat; all mutilated and showed signs of torture. Mazari's body was carried on foot from Ghazni in the west to Mazar-e-Sharif in the north of Afghanistan, all across the Hazara lands in heavy snowy winter, by his followers over a period of forty days. Hundreds of thousands attended his funeral in Mazar-i Sharif. Mazari officially named as the Martyr for National Unity of Afghanistan by President Ghani.