By Zoya
Upon hearing of the recent change in Shiite law in Afghanistan, one that stipulates that a wife "is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires," V-Day reached out to long time V-Day activist and representative of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, (RAWA) Zoya for her comments on behalf of RAWA and the women of her country.
In RAWA’s opinion, the anti-women law recently signed by Karzai is a torturous nail hammered in the coffin of women’s rights is not something new or astounding because such shameful acts are the dark outcomes of Afghanistan being ruled by US-backed Islamic criminals in the past seven years. The world needs to know that many more treasons, much harsher and more painful than the last one have been committed against our people and the fate of democracy and freedom in our crying nation. This is just an example but there are much greater and terrible treasons waiting for Afghan men and women, especially when based on the new policies of Obama administration, the so-called “moderate” Taliban and Gulbuddin Party is also officially added in the collection of criminals now ruling Afghanistan.
Zoya
Maybe the mother of all these treacheries is the disgraceful bill of ‘National Reconciliation’ passed in which all criminals forgave themselves from their brutal war crimes in the last three decades and built a safe haven from prosecution and trial. And this happened in the presence of tens of thousands of foreign troops headed by US, but what salts the wounds of our people especially women, is the silence of the world which watched such treason and malevolence but did not take any concrete footstep against it.
In the present situation, we do not think that this shocking law specifically targeting women would receive effective reactions from any government. Naturally, the people, mostly women, RAWA and all the justice-seekers around the world would raise their voice and strive for exposing the corrupt Jehadi and mafia government of Karzai.
It would be attention-grabbing for the people around the globe to know that this semi-secret law was signed by Karzai at a time when the governmental media itself reports 600 suicides in the first two months of 2009, consisting of mostly women. There are much more bitter and heart-wrenching truths and this is just the tip of the iceberg. The sky-rocketing rapes, self-immolation, violence and thousands of other oppression on Afghan women expands on much broader horizons but since Afghanistan is under the fundamentalists’ grip and media clings with them, such horrible atrocities fail to reflect in the media.It is a wide notion that Karzai passed this law to attract Shia (one of the two sects of Islam) voters but this is a little corner of the much bigger and hateful reality; by signing such a misogynist law, he has empowered and stabilized the presence of both Shia and Sunni fundamentalists. It merits a mention that the content of this document is more satisfying and interesting for the Sunnis than the Shias, who were the first ones to enforce such laws during their bloody 1992-96 rule.
The women MPs like Humaira Namati and others smell of hypocrisy when condemning this law because when they see such a bright and scandalous perfidy against women with their naked eyes, why don’t they resign or resolutely raise their voice the way Malalai Joya did? Expressing disapproval is more of a posing for the foreign media and it is obvious that they are collaborating with the government.The so-called presidential elections are in four months but everyone knows that the new president would be someone that US desires. How is it possible that despite the invasion of US and its allies in Afghanistan, the president would be freely elected, against the presence of troops and Jehadi and Taliban fundamentalists and dream of a democratic Afghanistan? Even if US are fed up of Karzai, another Karzai would come with a different name and face. It is like the famous Afghani proverb, ‘the old donkey but with a new saddle!’ the policies of US has resulted in not only the power of Jehadi warlords but Hezb-e-Islami and pro-Taliban candidates are also pouring in.
In the West, propaganda for these elections is in full swing whereas as we said before, this is not going to bring any positive change for our people.With the new president chosen by the US, the parliament would be directed by the new government. In these parliamentary elections, even if a handful of true people’s representatives find way, it would serve as a façade for US and government to show democracy that even opposing voices are being tolerated.
In attention to the previous dishonesty of Karzai’s criminal government and the policies of US, it is quite predictable that the new president and new parliament would be more odious than the present one.
The new strategy of Mr. Obama is possible to be of any use except for mitigating the soaring and burning pains of our people but have totally stampede the rights of our people especially women. This strategy does not remove the Jehadi, Parchami, Khalqi or Taliban from the political scenery but on contrary, US is reconciling all of these terrorist bands to create a US-supportive government and establish a stable path to the gas pipes of Central Asia. The American troops are not here for security but for strengthening the Jihadis and backing their dirty policies.
RAWA calls for all the people around the world especially the kind-hearted people of America, both the supporters and opponents of Mr. Obama to join hands if they truly do not want this treacherous policy to continue. They should be against conspiracy of a government installed of criminals fiercely against democracy, women’s rights and independence and to avoid such acts under the cover of new strategy.
RAWA’s eyes have always been waiting for the people around the world particularly great American people to condemn the wrong foreign policies of their governments for supporting and protecting misogynist fundamentalists groups and ignoring and isolating pro-human rights, women’s rights and democratic forces.
Zoya is a representative of RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women Of Afghanistan, an independent political/social organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for social justice in Afghanistan http://www.rawa.org