Throughout the world, women are victims of violence on a daily basis whether in the context of peace or in conflict. Perpetrators may be officials of the state, armed opposition groups or individuals - including family members.
Women in Muslim countries have given numerous testimonies of their bleak and wretched life conditions.
Finding no way out, they prefer to self immolate. And reasons coming to the fore are domestic abuse, forced marriage and other misogynistic social customs.
Testimony gathered by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has postulated how women have been brutally ill-treated by their family members. And that the trend is mounting up in the province.
Reliable nationwide statistics are not available. Many families cover up what happened because of shame, while a lack of medical care and government services mean many such cases are never officially recorded.
Needs a re-think
Afghanistan is still facing an internal armed conflict and is ruled by a fragile government. Condition of women has hardly improved even after the fall of Taliban regime. Cases of violence are generally kept secret in rural areas but if the victim or family chooses to complain, tribal Jirgas or local councils are convened to resolve it.
There is a huge gap between the reality on the ground and the ‘remarkable progresses’ claimed by western diplomats who sit in fortified compounds behind guards and concrete blocks and who never leave Kabul. The only area in which the country could really be said to have made remarkable progress is in growing the poppy and ‘violence against women’.
End of the Taliban was meant to be like this?
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