(Asia Sentinel) They fear despotic, misogynous Islamic fundamentalists likely to return them to the dark ages
The report Wednesday from Washington, DC that US President Barack
Obama has set in motion a substantial withdrawal of American troops from
Afghanistan is hardly good news for Afghanistan’s women. Withdrawal of
10,000 NATO troops is expected by the end of the year. Women in the
country are hearing rumors that talks with the Taliban are already
taking place in secret.
This is alarming. Without the representation and participation of women
there can be no assurance that their rights will be upheld after the
peace process and that could spell disaster. Women risk losing liberty,
education and employment if the fundamentalist Taliban were to win a
significant place in the Afghan government.
The presence of foreign troops has caused significant issues, too. For
example, a recent errant NATO strike killed at least nine women and
children. But women say this tragedy should not be used as a reason for a
troop withdrawal. The Taliban are responsible for the majority of
civilian deaths during the war and intolerable abuse of women.
In May, Safia Siddiqi, a women's activist and former member of the
Afghan National Economy Committee, said on a national radio broadcast
that nothing had improved for women in rural areas and that women need
each other and the international forces to attain peace and security.
Female activists recall that in 1948 Afghanistan was a signatory to the
Declaration of Universal Human Rights and in 1953 ratification of the
Convention on the Political Rights of Women afforded them all the
political rights - including the right to vote in elections and to hold
public office - that men enjoyed.
Women's rights are not a recent western import but freedoms taken away
by successive regimes that waged war with foreign interference, they
say. Even with these rights, in the past educated women were the elite
few and the majority lived enclosed within the confines of the home,
often uneducated. This is true today, too, but with a key difference:
Most women now know precisely what they should still have.
Before Sept. 11, 2001, Afghan women begged the international community
to help them. I interviewed many myself in 2000 and 2001 while reporting
on aid programs for a UK-based non-governmental organization. Educated
or not, rich or poor, all the women appealed to me to ask my government
to save them from the Taliban.
They told me: "All we want is security so that we can have education for
our children and to be able to work." They feared and dreaded the
Taliban and many had been widowed by this very movement with whom the US
and UK governments are considering negotiating.
Many are anxious about their economic rights. They need to be able to work, to earn money to feed and house their children.
When the Taliban were in power, the women of Afghanistan were denied
those rights. Women were banned from working outside the home except in
highly restricted areas. Widows only had recourse to living on the
kindness of their neighbors, on charity, of which there was little
during this time, and by begging. I saw many women pathetically holding
out their hands from under their burqas in supplication for a coin,
risking a beating if a Talib saw them alone in the street.
When people talk of reconciliation with the Taliban, should we not ask
who they intend to include? Women need seats at the table when
negotiations take place. Otherwise it's hard for women to believe that
Taliban re-integration is sincere and not a charade for foreign
observers that will dissolve the minute troops withdraw.
Women have made gains in the cities and there are many examples of girls
now going to school. Yet, in some areas, like Helmand, they still risk
their lives by attending school. Girls' education is often curtailed
after primary school. Daughters are still used to settle disputes. The
maternal mortality rate there is among the highest in the world.
Currently, Afghans neither support their government, because they know
that many are corrupt, nor international forces, which do not appear to
take enough care when launching attacks. Both must change before the
Taliban can be isolated.
Without doubt though there needs to be reconciliation with men who are
currently alienated from the Afghan government. And we know from
Northern Ireland that it is sometimes possible for terrorists to become
respected members of society and even the government. But this can only
be achieved when all parties concerned can be confident that such men
have renounced terrorist activity.
When asking for Afghan women's opinion on whether there should be
negotiations with the Taliban and foreign troop withdrawal, Wazhma
Frogh, a leading women's activist and an executive board member of the
Afghan Women's Network, told me that among Afghan women there is no
clear consensus. But there is a common call for ending all forms of
violence.
Wazhma says it doesn't matter to a mother whether an international air
operation or a suicide bomber killed her child. The pain of loss is the
same and she must endure her suffering under cover and in silence.
British Army General James Bucknall, second in command of the
International Security Assistance Force - the NATO-led security mission
that has been in Afghanistan since 2001 - says "now is not the time to
blink." Major General Phillp Jones, the British director of
International Security Assistance Force's Force Reintegration Cell,
believes that the sight of bin Laden's picture - as a hunched, forlorn
figure instead of a charismatic leader - will weaken his following and
that now is the time to capitalize on this. Many foot-soldiers may turn
away from al-Qaida and the Taliban, which could have a positive impact
for reintegration.
Unless the perpetrators of cruelty and inhumane actions – whether they
are Taliban or criminal warlords – are stopped, the misery for women
will undoubtedly continue. If the military chiefs' advice is taken - to
keep troops in there to press the advantage - then there is a chance
they will achieve true security for all Afghans.
By arrangement with Women’s eNews. Jeanne Bryer, a British freelancer, has specialized in Afghaistan for more than a decade.
Much has been said about the proposed BERSIH 2.0 rally calling for a
clean and fair electoral process. This is scheduled to take place on 9
July 2011. Other groups have also announced their own plans for a rally
to take place on the same day. Police reports have been lodged against
BERSIH 2.0 opposing the rally, and there have been calls to arrest the
organisers of the BERSIH 2.0 march under the Internal Security Act 1960.
The
SMS in Bahasa Malaysia says: "Korg ni buta hati ke?? buat apa sokong
ambiga keling paria haramjadah tu? dia ni kapir laknat. korang tau tak
dia ni jadi alat anjing2 politik untuk musnahkan keutuhan melayu. dia
kata je nak BERSIH kan SPR. bersih kepala bapak dia. 
Last Sunday, Malay rights pressure group Perkasa had 
“Scholarships
will be reserved if you are able to get very good results (at
foundation) and (a) place at top universities,” said Najib (picture) in an interview with the Chinese-language One FM radio station today.
Malaysiakini has obtained three birth certificates registered in the peninsula in 1996 (right), 1998 and 2000 (below) respectively.
The reasons for the variations in format are not known, as Malaysiakini is waiting for the NRD's response.
There
is no printed column for the child's race and religion on the form.
Instead, the additional columns were manually stamped on the form (right) by the officer.
Uthaya Sankar SB (right),
who writes in Malay, said that using a sticker, which he calls a 'magic
sticker', never arose when the committee met to discuss the novel.
