A report issued by the Ministry of Women Affairs brings into light some serious concerns about the drastic and regularly deteriorating condition of women in Afghan society. In first three months of the present year, more than 1000 cases of violence against women have been reported. These are the cases that have been reported to the concerned authorities and it is feared that the violation may be manifold as majority of such cases do not reach to the media.
No doubt, there may be violations being committed by the Taliban or so-called military factions that do so under the pretext of the implementation of the Islamic laws. It is necessary to mention here that in far-flung rural areas or provinces where the hold of government is not strong and effective, militant groups have succeeded in establishing their setup of government and they have their government with parallel government institutions and courts that issue such cruel sentences against the women. However, major factor responsible for such treatment of women is the ignorance of general public about the rights of women.
Except for a small educated minority residing mostly in the cities, people are absolutely unaware of the methods of dealing the women. Centuries old concept of regarding women as inferior to men is strictly in practice in major parts of the country.
Similarly, people are also unaware of the rights being granted to the women by Islam because majority of the religious scholars functioning as Imams in the rural areas are narrow-minded, following the traditions more than the true Islamic teachings and thus support the restriction of women that are not mentioned in Islamic teachings.
One common example is the veil or Chadiri. According to Islamic teachings, a woman can keep her face open while our religious scholars strictly insist that women should cover themselves completely that is the result of our strict cultural customs and not Islam.
However educated we are but when it comes to share the property or other valuables with female relatives, we all become very strict and forget all the standards of ethics, equality or Islamic guidelines. Majority of the women are killed, either bluntly or under any excuse, when they ask for their rights in the property and their male relatives try all their best to deprive them of their rights.
The biggest factor that includes to this situation is our weak legal system in which a person killing his female relative easily escapes. This factor motivates others to take any such step without much fear.
It is necessary that a joint action should be started from all the grounds like making easy access of women for the judicial justice, promoting awareness in general public about rights of women and many more. Then we will be able to bring about evident changes in the reports generated about women.