Shakila Ibrahimkhel
Anisa, twelve, sits weeping next to her crying father. Anisa was gang-raped by five men some months back. “I want the criminals to be hung,” she says weeping.
13-year old Samia is another gang-raped victim in Sar-e-Pul province of Afghanistan.
Rape victims demand severe punishments for the people involved in the crime. Two girls, thirteen and twelve years old, were gang-raped by powerful men and regional commanders in Sar-e-Pul about four months back. They say that till now no measures have been taken against the people who had raped them. They demanded justice from the government and legal and judicial bodies.
“They have dishonored me, so I have no prestige among my relatives”, a crying girl asks. The 13-year old girl is Samia. She says she was gang-raped in the month of Ramadan (September) by eight armed men in the Sancharak District of Sar-e-Pul. Her father is a farmer and says that although the men were arrested by the authorities of Sar-e-Pul they were released again. According to Samia’s father the rapists are powerful and armed men; therefore they always threat them. Now they have left their home and moved to Kabul. They live in a guest house. They demanded justice from the government and human rights institutions.
“I have no honored in my tribe and town. I was immature and didn’t know the good and bad in the world,” Samia continues tearfully. “They should be hung so that it becomes a lesson to others not to repeat such an act.”
“Mr. Karzai has to help us,” her father says angrily. “Aren’t we human beings? Aren’t we citizens of this land? There no honor and dignity left for us? All our children are being tortured.”
[utube]-ux1c-GTzyw[/utube]The other girl is Anisa who is 12-years old. She was also gang-raped by five armed men in Sar-e-Pul. The incident was too much for her father to bear so he was paralyzed. Although he cannot talk properly now he cries bitterly sitting next to his daughter. They have also taken refuge in Kabul. Anisa also wants the severest of punishments for the rapists. “I want the criminals to be hung,” she says weeping.
The commanding police office of Sar-e-Pul says the people involved are in the clutches of the law. He added that if at some time they get freed they (the police) should be informed.
…
Increasing cases of rape, especially those of children, have greatly worried people in the country. Human rights organizations have also expressed concern over the terrible aftermath of the rapes. According to these organizations, in most cases the rapists are powerful men or sometimes even government official; therefore, they are not prosecuted.