By Shakeela Ibrahimkhil
Two young girls, one 12-years-old and one only three, were abducted and raped in Takhar province in just the past week, local officials have confirmed.
The parents of the 12-year-old girl, who live in the Yangi Qala district, said their daughter was abducted by armed men late at night six days ago, then taken somewhere and raped.
Photo: TOLOnews.com
Police officials on Friday said they found the girl inside a forest near the Amu River. An arrest was made by NDS personnel and a man has reportedly confessed to the crime, and said he was high on drugs at the time. Officials said they are still in search of his collaborators.
"It was at night, the guy, who is known as Rohullah, came to my home and tortured my 12-year-old daughter and myself and threatened that two more armed men were on the roof and they took away my daughter," the mother of the victim told TOLOnews.
The father of the girl called for swift justice. "We want him to be executed in public, we demand the president address our call for justice, and if our demands are not honored, I will burn myself alongside my ten children," the father of the raped girl said.
Just two days before, it was released that three men brutally raped a three-year-old girl in the same province. The doctors who are treating the infant have said the men tried to kill her after sexually abusing her. "The criminal apparently wanted to kill the girl after raping her and there is signs of suffocation around her neck," the doctor said.
The horrendous crime has caused a backlash in the community, and the Police Chief has called for justice. "As Takhar police chief, I call on the legal and judicial institutions of the country to give a tough penalty to the perpetrators behind the crime and order their execution," Takhar Police Chief Abdul Hanan Qataghani said.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) continues to express major concerns about the state of women's rights in the country. Violence against women is on the rise, and so far, just this year, 200 cases of violence against women and sexual abuse of children have been reported in Takhar.