Warlords gang rape Badakhshan woman
QUETTA: A local commander and 11 of his men gang raped a 22-year-old woman in Shahre Buzurg district of the northeastern Badakhshan province on November 28. The incident is said to have occurred in Shah Dasht village, by a local warlord named Mujtaba, belonging to the Jamiat-e-Islami Afghanistan led by Burhanuddin Rabbani (now member of parliament). Village people told journalists that they had complained a number of times about the brutalities and lawlessness of warlords in their village, adding that police and local officials usually take no action because the warlords are powerful and backed by Burhanuddin Rabbani, based in Badakhshan. The victim’s husband, Qari Jehangir, said armed men raped his wife and when his two children started crying, one of the men urinated in one child’s mouth. The alleged victim was told she would be killed if she complained. Brig Sayed Habib Saeedkhili, the border police chief in Badakhshan, confirmed the crime and told the media that commander Mujtaba and his men were famous drug traffickers who had succeeded in fleeing, but that Mujtaba’s brother Anayat had been arrested. According to Pajhwok Afghan News, “Zofanoon Natiq, director of the Women’s Affairs Department of Badakhshan, showed unawareness about the incident. She said no such incident had occurred in Badakhshan. But the head of the Independent Human Rights Commission in the northeast zone said, ‘This is a crime, and will also anger the people.’ He said the weakness of local authorities was the main reason for repetition of such cases in the region.” Crimes against women are on rise in Afghanistan, especially in the Northern Province of Badakhshan, the stronghold of the Jamiat-e-Islami Afghanistan, which has its armed militia and key government posts in the area. In April 2005, , a 29 year-old woman, was publicly stoned to death on the basis of a district court’s decision in the province.
Source: Daily Times
Date:12/2/2006
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