AIBAK - Violence against women surged by 19 percent during last solar year compared to the previous year in northern Samangan province, an official said on Saturday.
Women Affairs Director Malalya Safi told Pajhwok Afghan News in the 1397 solar year, 232 incidents of violence against women were registered compared to 1396 solar year’s 195 incidents.
She said 65 percent of the last year’s incidents of violence had been resolved through dialogue, with 30 percent incidents going to judicial organs.
She said last year incidents included 45 cases of physical torture, five of denying inheritance rights, 13 cases of denying alimony, four murders, nine incidents of threat to death, four sexual attacks and three incidents of kidnapping.
Without going into details, she said 39 incidents of family violence had also been recorded at the Women Affairs Department. Among the 232 registered violent incidents, 12 were elopement in which women denied a return to their homes.
Torsan Gul, the resident of Aibak City, complained against the violence she had been faced by her husband. She said one and half year back she traveled to Turkey with her husband where she was physically tortured on daily bases.
Torsan Gul who has no children said she worked in a cigarette producing company in Turkey and when she collected some money she bought air tickets and came back to Afghanistan where she live with her parents.
She has not yet reached to any organization to registered her complain because according to Torsan Gul her complain may not be effective because her husband was currently in Turkey.
Habiba, 23, the resident of Aibak City, complained that she had been facing violence from her step mother. She said her step mother tortured her and sometime she was beaten with a rod.
She said she complained with the Women Affairs Department against her step mother, adding that they reconciled with the mediation of Women Affairs Department but the brutality of her step mother continued unabated.
Addressing violent incidents:
The women affairs director said that last year they resolved 152 incidents of violence in coordination with the Hajj and Religious Affairs Department and the Provincial Council with their construction advice.
She said 70 more incidents which needed more investigation were referred to judicial organs.
She said last year’s figures showed a decline in incidents of torture, divorce, denying alimony, murder and some other violent crimes compared to similar incidents happened in the previous year.
Prosecutor Niyaz Mohammad Rasekh said 31 incidents of violence against women were registered with them last year.
Four incidents of suicide, four incidents of sexual attack, one incident of murder, three incidents of harassment, six of torture were among the incidents transferred to the appellant court after investigation.
It is worth mentioning that similar incidents of violence take place in other provinces of the country besides Samangan.
Roya Dadras, spokesperson for the Ministry of Women Affairs, said 5,910 incidents of violence against women from capital Kabul and province had been registered with them in the first nine months of last year.
She said the registered incident included, forced marriage, torture, murder, sexual attack, denying alimony.
She said most of the violent incident staged against women included torture which was accounted for 1,103 with most of these incident happened in Heart, Takhar, Baghlan, Samangan, Jawzjan and Balkh provinces.
Reasons of violence
Samangan Women Affairs director said that war, poverty, illiteracy, culture of patriarchy and bad traditions were reasons of violence against the gender in the country.
“Islam respects the rights of women and puts them high and those who value women’s rights, God has a special award for them,” she said.
Shams Rahman Frotan, an Islamic scholar, said public awareness programs about women’s rights should increase in the country. He said most of violence against women cases resulted from people’s lack of awareness about women’s rights in Islam.
He said people should not treat women violently because it was against the teachings of Islam.
He said Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W) had told Muslims to be kind and gentle to their women. “In the Holy Quran, God says you should treat your women the good way,” Frotan added.
Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W) never raised his hand against women and even he did not speak with them in loud voice, he said.
“Woman is mother and we should care about them, our Prophet valued the importance of mother three times more than the father, the Prophet said that if a person raised three girls and trained them, that person would be with him in the heaven,” he said.
Zia Gul Naseri, a women’s rights activist in Samangan, also said that the conflict, poverty, lack of awareness about women’s rights and lack of law enforcement were reasons behind violence against women.
She said people should be provided with awareness about women’s rights according to Islam, the law should be enforced and the issue of women’s rights added to the curriculum. (Pajhwok)