An undated photo of Nasreen. (Photo: RAWA.org)
Nasreen, a young girl was murdered by local strongmen on February 25, 2012 in Anchagal village, Naray district in Kunar province. The killing was over family disputes that were not made clear. Three years ago the same people shot her with an AK-47 which severely injured her but her brother, Nematullah, saved her by taking her to a hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Ghani Gojar, Mohammadin, Safar and Haji Daeem are the powerful men in the village near Naray Rager Camp. Haji Daeem is a member of the local tribal council. These men previously killed an American who was on his way from Naray to Bareecote. They are very influential and supply heavy weapons to the Taliban.
After Nasreen’s disappearance, the men threatened her father, Gul Amin, to bring her back so they could kill her, saying they would kill him instead if he didn’t find her. Her brother didn’t want her to leave Pakistan but she was forcibly brought back.
Upon her return they tied her hands behind her back in the front of the whole village and pierced holes all over her body with an automatic machine gun. No one dared to help her while her brother sat worried in Islamabad, unaware of her death but expecting the worse.
Now no one dares to report this heinous crime because they fear the powerful people of the district. Once these men were arrested and taken by security forces to Bagram Airbase prison but due to their friendship with the district police chief and other powerful people, they got released.
This story is an everyday happening for women in all parts of Afghanistan. Today there is no justice for girls like Nasreen and thousand others who die helpless, or commit suicide to escape their ill fates. Women who seek justice and help from the police are arrested and jailed themselves for ‘moral crimes’. Most courts in Afghanistan are the local courts that are headed by extremist clerics, who pass harsh sentences of inhumane punishments like flogging and stoning to death.
The US occupation has only increased the sufferings of women, with violence increasing day by day. In a country under the dominace of the criminal Northern Alliance warlords and barbarous Taliban, freedom and women’s rights is nothing more than a cruel joke. Women’s rights and freedom are not given by a country to another, they have to be sought by the women themselves in a tireless struggle against fundamentalists and tyrants in power today.