Thursday, January 19, 2017
Kabul (BNA) Reports freshly leaked a 19 year-old-girl extreme step to hang herself to death, with the main reason behind forced-marriage by her father in northern province of Sar-e-Pul.
The girl, Gul Rukh has committed suicide by hanging herself to death to avoid forced marriage and family violence in Archato village of Sancharak district of the province, according to provincial governor spokesman, Zabihullah Amani. Father of the girl, Niaz Murad had been arrested by police, said Amani quoting the girl’s mother as saying her father wanted to forcibly marry her to a man.
Confirming the shocking incident, women’s affairs director Nasima Arezo said cultural restrictions did not allow the youth to make decisions about their lives.
“Youths are not allowed to make decision for their marriage or their future,” said Arezo who added this is why the girl took such extreme step.”
A women activist Shafiqa Habibi said that this was a heinous act to forcedly marry a girl to a man—even the young one against her favor, under what she blamed a vicious culture and awful tradition.
She asked for bringing those involved in the incident to justice and punished to be a lesson to others.
“In many parts of Afghanistan, she said girls are vended against a small amount of money, rather to proceed to the Islamic teachings, which allows the youth – both boys and girls to get married on their own decisions.”
She further said that women and girls are used as tools to help men reach their targets. “They are not aware of the Islamic teachings and civil rules.”
She condemned forced-marriage against all religious teachings and Afghan culture and asked the organs concerned to step up in this field to help reduce violence against women and girls and demanded the religious scholars to publicize violence against women and girls in their daily speeches of Friday prayers and other meetings held with their membership.
Elsewhere in Faryab province, northwestern Afghanistan, a girl of 16-year-old has been killed, after being brutally assaulted sexually. The incident took place in Bal Charagh district of the province, where police spokesman, Abdul Karim Yurosh said that Hafiza 16 was first raped by unknown assailants before being strangled to death with her shawl.
The victim’s mother, screaming and yelling, accused her neighbors Ali Mohammad and Ibrahim of raping and killing her daughter.
She said her daughter had gone to the cowshed to feed sheep and cows. The girl was subjected to sexual assault by the two men, the woman added.
“It got late but she did not come back. We searched the house of our neighbors. Ali’s mother told me to search her in the cowshed, where we found her body.”
She said Ibrahim had been arrested while Ali managed to flee. She asked the government to hand the accused over to her family, which would burn them alive.
Kabul citizens harshly reacted against the incident aired by media, with Mrs. Parwin calling violence against women to have been with direct link to unawareness of men from the women rights and that in order to prevent it, there was a need for promotion of the women rights all over the country’s provinces.
Another woman, Sumayya Noori blamed the government for failure to bring those involved in violence against women to justice.
Culture of immunity to gather with insecurity could be called the main reasons of increase in the cases of violence against women.
Shukria Kohistani
