Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Culture of Violence Must Be Halted

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Culture of Violence Must Be Halted

“A society can exist with infidelity but not with malice”, affirmed, the great Hazrat Ali (AS). The frequent tale of bloodsheds, aggravation, injustices, vindictiveness, corruption and mercilessness witnessed, have made us believe that the society thrives for its very existence against multiple annihilating forces. These evil forces exert hard forcing us to the verge of extinction. If not countered with virtuous forces, they might dominate, once forever. The attributes of modern society, encompassing everything for the good of human progeny, certainly are pursuable. 

The long course we advanced could earn us nothing except the rule of nuisance, wicked deeds, widespread manipulation of power, suppression of oppressed and endless tales of barbarism against powerless segment of society. The blind and irrational socio-religious dictates have dominated our deeds and thoughts to the point of no reverse, equally beleaguering our fairer and lucid disposition in every field of human endeavor. Deeming women inferior creature is deliberate negation of their innate aptitude and universal attribute of God’s equity.  

Afghanistan is the land where women are treated as a third class citizen, and a household commodity, whose fate rests to parental sightless ruling. Women found exercising her willingness contrary to parental dictate is subjected to severe castigation and humiliation. The society where negation of unsound commandment is deemed immodesty and conceit, and pursuit of a rational discourse unpardonable sin, lies at the depth of moral abyss. Hence, a woman is bound to lead a life at utter submission of her family associates.

Formerly, an alleged heart wrenching tale of four female prisoners gang-raped by male prisoners who could easily sought entry in women cell unhindered, reflect a deepened loophole in security measure and alleged involvement of officials. This is not the only tragic incident but countless such incidents are the matter of routine happening, many of which go unreported. This depicts sexual abuse and rape of women and children have been rampant in Afghanistan. According to survey report released late last year, at least 245 women and children were raped across the country during the initial six months of 2014. These are the documented account of repressions, out of numerous undocumented. Nonetheless, the flawed jurisprudence can’t guarantee necessary safeguards; make them more prone to violence. Rationally speaking, a woman being raped can never ever produce four eyewitnesses, to hold the culprits accountable in the court of justice for his wrong deed. Fearing weighty defamation and denouncement, she frequently opts for eternal silence. Consequently, law renders hapless, apprehending the culprits to restrain the evil practitioners.

Devoid of physical abuse, women are subjected to regular physical torture. The women of Afghanistan had been the biggest victims of violence. This state of affairs is confirmed by the Afghan ambassador to the UN who told the Security Council that women have borne the brunt of the conflict for over 30 years whilst calling 2014 a deadly for females. He stated that during the former year, 12 percent more women were killed and injured than in 2013. The other setbacks for women’s rights in 2014 included attacks on high-profile women, including police officers and activists.   

Women in Afghanistan, including women in public roles and girls seeking education, are often targeted. The women who opt for outdoor chores in the bid to financial independence are subjected to harassment at work. The government could hardly provide with rare shelved laws, hardly applied. The dominant culture of violence let not government come up with appropriate remedies. Apart from state actors the non-state actors, Taliban and insurgents, opposed to women’s independence, are frequently inflicting severe harsh and capital punishments those accused of immodesty.

Responding at the call of human right organizations and restricting the exploitation of women, a landmark law on Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) was designed. Proposed in 2009, the EVAW law criminalizes acts of violence against women and harmful practices including child marriage, forced marriage, forced self-immolation, 'baad' (giving away a woman or girl to settle a dispute) and 18 other acts of violence against women including rape and beating. It also specifies punishment for perpetrators. But implementation has been slow and uneven, with police still reluctant to enforce the legal prohibition against violence and harmful practices, and prosecutors and courts slow to enforce the legal protections in the law. The incumbent government must do away the containments on the way to fair implementation of the EVAW law.

Earlier, Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO), a non-governmental organization, conducted a survey followed by a report. AHRDO interviewed 1,076 people in Kabul, 756 in Herat, 782 in Nangarhar, 606 in Balkh, and 682 in Bamiyan for the report. The AHRDO expressed great concern in their recent report titled "Women in the Perspective of Men" on the growing culture of female discrimination and harassment in every aspect of life. According to the report, the method of preaching pursued by Mullahs throughout the regions without government control persuade the people toward extremism and violence against females, which has caused the deprivation of women of their basic humanitarian rights and raised violence against them.

Violence against women in Afghanistan have kept women very far away from education which is one of the reasons that usually subjected them to extensive discriminations because they are kept ignorant of their fundamental rights. The choices of Afghan women are extraordinarily restricted; the family decides the fate of their lives.

We turn deaf ears to the hapless cries, blind eyes negligent to see the magnitude of mental sufferings they endure while getting out to earn a livelihood, numb to realize the numerous pain of gender based victimization they bear frequently, because of fallacious socio-religious structure based on irrational biases, which the culture grows rapidly. It reflects women are coerced to repression after being found ill-fated and voiceless.

The escalated graph of violence in Afghanistan such as domestic violence, honor killing, and sexual violence against women and young girls going uninterrupted is the matter of great concern everyone. Unless the incumbent government takes bold and immediate actions undoing all such developments eroding and restraining the capabilities of women we may not put an end to culture of violence.

Asmatyari is permanent writer of Daily outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at asmatyari@gmail.com

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