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After the injustice done to Malalai Joya, it is obvious that women still need help and sympathy that can be accorded to them even during this so called era of liberation. Their rights are still being trampled upon by male officials of the country's government, reports Ambreen Aleem
Under the Taliban, women in Afghanistan were severely oppressed. The idea of their liberation was used to sell the Afghan war as a war of liberation. But the condition of women in the new Afghanistan is precarious at best. While the Taliban's members were oppressive moralists who forbade kite flying and listening to music and, at times, the education of women, they did at least impose a type of simple law and order. The new regime, in contrast, is marked by general insecurity in which women are the most vulnerable group.  | |
For most women the only thing that has changed since the fall of the Taliban is that there has been an increase in insecurity. It is common to read or hear reports of women being abducted by gunmen who rape and sell them. There is no functioning law and order in Afghanistan - NATO forces are too thinly spread and the local police are little more than uniformed criminals - thus women have almost no protection other than that provided by armed fathers, brothers and husbands. And their deprivation from basic human rights continues. Thus, it is still hard to document exactly what is happening now in Afghanistan, especially in its vast countryside, but this much is clear: for most women, the oppression of the old social relations remain. Today, women hold 27% of the seats in the National Assembly and one-sixth of the seats in the Upper House. But most Afghan women remain illiterate, impoverished and vulnerable to political and criminal violence. Only 15% of Afghan woman can read. The United Nations has described Afghan women as being "among the worst-off in the world." On average, women in Afghanistan die at least 20 years younger than women elsewhere. Since the fall of Taliban in 2001, the United States has implemented more than 200 projects for Afghan women to increase women's political participation, build civil society, create economic opportunities, support the education of girls and women, and increase access to health care. Afghanistan has achieved some remarkable milestones during the past year to secure women's human rights and civil and social gains. Among the significant achievements were the drafting of the Constitution, ratified on January 4, 2004, the successful presidential elections held on October 9, 2004, and the recent September 18, 2005 elections for Parliament and provincial councils. But a recent example of crude behaviour of men in the political arena explained all the misunderstandings. Afghanistan's lower parliamentary house voted to suspend an outspoken female lawmaker, who has enraged former Mujahideen fighters now in President Hamid Karzai's U.S. backed government. After Malalai Joya's return from a successful international tour and interview with a local TV station in Kabul, the warlords and criminals in the Afghan Parliament and Senate, tried hard to silence Joya and kick her out of the Parliament. They have used one of her recent comments during the previously mentioned interview as a justification for their move. In the interview, she expressed that the Afghan Parliament is worse than an animal stable whose many members are the murderers and enemies of Afghan people. Malalai Joya was one of the prominent winners in Afghanistan's landmark parliamentary elections and is known to be an outspoken critic of the country's warlords. Ms. Joya, daughter of a former medical student, rose to prominence for denouncing warlords at a constitutional forum two years ago. She received a number of death threats after interrupting the loya jirga (grand council) with her criticism of the Mujahideen. Ms. Joya told the constitutional convention that the Mujahideen were responsible for Afghanistan's civil war which only ended when the Taliban seized power in 1996. Ms. Joya continued to press her case against the former rulers of Afghanistan - last year she, together with a delegation of 50 tribal elders, persuaded President Hamid Karzai to dismiss a provincial governor who was a former Taliban commander. Following this, she has surprisingly survived at least four assassination attempts since her speech. Ms. Joya has said she is used to intimidation after being threatened "again and again" by the Taliban when she started her work in the country in 1998 after returning from Pakistan and Iran where her family had emigrated during the civil war. During that time she established an orphanage and health clinic, and was soon a vocal opponent of the Taliban. After a landmark victory in elections, Ms. Joya stated, "When those people put their trust in me and elected me as their representative, I decided to bring their suffering to the world's attention - so that the world would know that even though the men and women of Afghanistan have had to live in ignorance and poverty for many years, they don't trust the Mujahideen." Ms Joya said the government with the support of international forces should "tackle the warlords with great determination". "These people are snakes in the sleeves of the government. Only if the government tackles them head-on will we see a brighter future. "If they don't there will be more bitter and dark days ahead." On May 21, 2007, with a gross majority, the Parliament dominated by warlords and drug-lords suspended Joya for three years and ordered the High Court to file a case against her. They also directed the Interior Ministry to restrict her movements. This means she is not allowed to travel outside Afghanistan. For her suspension from the parliament no formal vote count was held, but a clear majority of lawmakers voted to suspend her for the rest of her five-year term by raising coloured cards. And the stated reason was that Parliament's Article 70 forbids lawmakers from insulting one another. Joya, said the vote was a "political conspiracy" and she was aware that Article 70 was written specifically for her. She also said that she was ready to face an independent court and to use the opportunity to expose the enemies of Afghan people through it. Joya added, "But I am very sorry that there is no justice in Afghanistan and the judiciary is also infected with the virus of warlordism and the fundamentalists occupy it,” she said. "Since I've started my struggle for human rights in Afghanistan, for women's rights, these criminals, these drug smugglers, they've stood against me from the first time I raised my voice at the Loya Jirga," she said, referring to the constitution-drafting constitution held several years ago. Lower house speaker Yunus Qanooni told lawmakers that Joya's case would be introduced to "the court," without elaborating. When lawmakers asked why, Qanooni said, "If there is any issue, the court will explain it." It was not immediately clear if a court could overturn Joya's suspension. It is obvious that Joya's outspoken ways have earned her many enemies in Afghanistan. In February, during a rally to support a proposed amnesty for Afghans suspected of war crimes, thousands of former fighters shouted "Death to Malalai Joya!" In one of her parliamentary speeches, she termed certain lawmakers "warlords", prompting some of them to throw water bottles at her. A minor scuffle broke out between her supporters and detractors, and Joya later said some legislators had threatened to rape her as payback.
Joya said that if she could not remain in the parliament, she would fight against "criminals" independently. She said if anything were to happen to her — a reference to a possible assassination attempt — "everyone would know" that people she has criticized would be responsible. "I'm not alone," she told reporters. "The international community is with me and all the Afghan people are with me." This heat against Joya depicts that in Afghanistan, disrespect for human rights has acquired extreme proportion. Overall, women in Afghanistan are basically not treated as people. To overcome this, there is a need to develop specific gender-oriented programs that would include, primarily issues related to women to enable them to breathe in an open society. 
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