KABUL - Concerned by the recent spate of violence in the country, members of the Afghan parliament's Women's Affairs Commission on Sunday condemned the recent stoning to death of an Afghan girl, Rukhshana, allegedly by the Taliban in Ghor province in western Afghanistan.

Members of the commission not only strongly condemned the incident but called on legal and judicial bodies to ensure those responsible are identified, arrested and brought to justice.

"The government of Afghanistan should use all available resources for a month [to track down the perpetrators]. If government says it is only busy with anti-terror operations, this would harm the credibility of security institutions. It is said that they [criminals] freely commute in the center of the city [Ghor]. They are criminals and are not related to armed groups," head of commission Fawzia Kofi said.

"Two incidents happened during the past three months in the country. The first case was the public lashing of a woman in a government controlled area. The government judge ordered the lashing verdict and the second tragedy is the stoning of Rukhshana," commission member Ruqia Nayel said.

Meanwhile, Ayoub Salangi, deputy minister of interior affairs for security has pledged to arrest the criminals; however he said that this would take time.

In addition, a member of the department undertaking prevention of violence against women in the supreme court said that the lack of a DNA center in the country is stumbling block in terms of implementing justice.

"The nonexistence of a DNA center within the framework of a forensic department is one of the reasons that impacts the process of serving justice," attorney Ruqia Niazi said. "We are facing a serious issue in this respect and so far no organization has come forward to establish it." (Tolonews)