“Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in the minutest details in the activities of man, and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him.” Mohandas Gandhi.
One’s mind and senses will go numb on the gruesome violence taking place against women. They fall victim of grave physical torture in the worst possible way which chills you to the bone. The honor-killing acts, painful tortures, mutilating and killing in different ways are the actions they face every now and then. Such appalling tragedies are being repeated in different provinces of the country.
The horrible violence will fill one with strong sense of hatred and disgust. Won’t you be traumatized to hear that Sahar Gul was tortured in a highly inhuman manner by her in-laws in a dark cellar for six months? Her nails were pulled out, her whole body was covered in cuts and bruises and she was given electric shock! Won’t you be shocked by the story of Aisha whose ears and nose were cut and she was left in a mountain to die? Of course, one will be touched with tragic stories of Afghan women. The sad news of the recent violence is haunting the minds of Afghan women namely when a man killed his daughter-in-law and granddaughter in Baghlan province and two girls were raped and a girl was hanged for the crime of elopement in the same province, two women were found dead in Logar province, Shakila was shot to serious injuries by her husband, etc.
This time Sitara, a 30-year-old woman, fell victim to her husband’s anger in tremendously appalling way in Herat province. Her lip and nose were cut by her addict husband when she refused to give him money by selling her jewelries. When her picture was posted to the cyberspace of Facebooks, Afghan people, especially women, were shocked heavily by the news and expressed their great concern over the issue.
Furthermore, a day after Sitara’s tragedy, a dead body of a 19-year-old woman, Maryam, was found in the same province. The reports explained that Maryam, who was engaged, is said to be suffocated by a rope in her home. According to the head of Herat court, during the current year, 180 cases of violence against women have been registered which included 19 deaths.
Herat is a province where the graph of violence against women is higher than many other provinces. Mostly, women burn themselves, commit suicide or are killed by their husbands and tortured in many ways. The hospitals are bursting with the injured women who have been victimized of violence by their families, especially by their husbands.
In Afghanistan, when women start married life, they have to bite the bullet and undergo different mental and physical tortures. Such a mindset originates in wrong beliefs and superstation-orientated culture. Some expect women to sustain the bad temper, foul languages, misbehaviors and even physical tortures without raising eyebrows! Women are deemed an inferior creature for their gender.
The graph of violence against women is on the rise across the country. As a result, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) announced on November 25th, which was the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women, that a 25 percent jump in reported cases of human rights violations against women in Afghanistan in 2013. The AIHRC released a report on the same day, which stated that 4, 154 cases of human rights violations had been filed by Afghan women in only six months of the current solar year. The AIHRC adds that violations against women can include psychological, physical, sexual, economic and verbal mistreatment.
Moreover the minister of Women Affairs, Hasan Banoo Ghazanfar, stated, on November 25, that the ministry recorded 4000 cases of violence against women. She added that this statistics did not show the exact violence against women and that was only the cases which have been referred to judicial and justice institutions. According to her, only little violence which is done against women in the villages is recorded.
At the time of Taliban regime, women were treated as pariah and a creature to sit behind closed doors and be used as a mere tool for satisfying the carnal desire of men. Sometimes, as only bread-winners for their children, when they dared come out for finding a morsel of bread, they were shrouded in burqa. Going to school was a big crime for them. Women were flogged and killed in desert courts for breaking the norms which were necessarily considered by the Taliban. In other words, coming out without burqa or with the men who were not the close members of their families were crime and they deserved serious punishment. After the fall of Taliban’s regime, Afghan women sighed deeply with relief thinking that violence has been ended against them and now they are equal to men. But unfortunately, equality of rights was no more than a dream and they were being tortured by their spouses, fathers, etc.
According to news reported by Bokhdinews, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released their annual report on violence against women in Afghanistan, on December 9, revealing mixed results of the country’s Elimination of Violence Against Women Law. A Way to Go, an update on implementation of the law on the Elimination of Violence against Women in Afghanistan, found that there was a 28 percent increase in reports of violence against women from 2012 to 2013, but only 17 percent of those were prosecuted under EVAW – a small 2 percent increase from last year.
If the people who exert violence against women do not be prosecuted, this issue will never be ended. Those who deprive women from their basic rights, torture them, mutilate or even kill them must be prosecuted fair and square. It is the hope and expectation of all Afghan citizens to the government to take serious action against human rights violators. Of course, if they do not be judged and punished for their crime, the crime rate will amount to higher percentage.