Translated by RAWA
March 10, JOWZJAN: Poverty and parental fights led a young girl in Jowzjan province in Northern Afghanistan to hang herself and commit suicide.
Abdul Khalil Amin Zada the security commander of Jowzjan told Pajhwok Afghan News that 18-year old Farzana of the Sim Kot area of the Third District in Shibirghan had hung herself by a rope the night before. He said that he had got information that the main reason behind her act was the fights and problems between her parents.
Hamadullah, Farzana’s 60-year old father also said that the reason behind his daughter’s death was the fights between him and his wife. He said that his wife always taunted him because he did not work and so he had to leave his home and live in a roadside. He added tat he has four sons and a daughter but none of them are able to work and asked the government to help them.
Miss Maghfirat Sameemi the head of Human Rights of Jowzjan said that fights and trouble between parents have a very negative effect on their children and may even cause them to commit suicide.
A week before Shazia, a 25-year old girl in Qunduz killed herself by hanging herself. She was pregnant with a child and she had only been married six months. Monisa Rasool one of the workers of the section of rights of the administration of the women’s affairs of Qunduz said that possibly domestic violence had caused her to commit suicide.
Said Mohammad Samay Head of Human Rights Commission of North highlighted the causes of suicide as poverty, unemployment and domestic violence. He added that recently an old man wanted to exchange his 8-year old son in a mosque in Karte Amani of Mazar-e-Sharif for three sacks of flour and rice but they had helped them and stopped him from selling his son. Samay claimed that this year more than three hundred cases of human rights violation have been reported in Jowzjan, Balkh, Sarpul and Samangan provinces. Most of them had been beating, self-immolation and suicide.
Speaking of domestic violence, in the last two days 8th March, the International Women’s Day was celebrated in the capital city and many other provinces. Workers and organizations celebrated this day enthusiastically but till now have not been able to reduce or end violence and abuse against women, that paints half the picture of the Afghan society today.