At last, one was able to feel the heat of June in Kabul as the last winter was too long and too harsh, full of cold and snow and rain, and then till end of May, there were continuous light showers that made the air soothingly cold. After taking my classes, I came to Zerzamini and stood under a tree at the entrance of Abdul Rehman Mosque, waiting for the taxi.

It was almost 2 o'clock and heat of the sun made one feel a bit uneasy. The shade of the tree was not available to all so some stood in the sun, waiting anxiously for the taxi or the public van or bus. Usually, it took me 5 to 10 minutes to get the taxi of my route but that day, taxis were also less on the road (drivers might have felt the heat of the day) and they were all from other routes.

After some time, two ladies came from somewhere and stood on the roadside to wait for the taxi or bus. As the shade of the tree had fully been covered by male, ladies had no option except waiting in the scorching sun. Taxis came by, filled by male passengers and left to their destinations.

Each taxi accommodates five passengers, two in front seat with the driver and three in the rear seat. It is very easy for the gentlemen to sit with each other and thus get a taxi, but for ladies, it is always a taunting task to find a place in taxi.

Due to culture, traditions and guidelines of religion, it is always odd and difficult for ladies to sit beside men. They either wait for some other ladies to assemble together so that they might themselves fill up the taxi but it is almost, always impossible as ladies cannot wait for hours for other ladies.

In some cases, they agree to sit beside a younger boy or a kid but it is always a rare event. At times, two ladies sit in the front seat with the driver but I am sure they do this reluctantly and with sheer compulsion. In short, it has become such a painful experience for the ladies to get a public transport that its bitterness cannot be described unless we don't put ourselves in their place and feel their pain and helplessness.

I could feel the pain and helplessness in every action of those two women, in their perspiring foreheads, in their shaking voices and in their movement which showed that they were tired and helpless. Many taxis came and went by but they were not successful in their endeavor.

Whenever a taxi stopped near them, one of them quickly went to it and inquired about the route and seeing that either there was no other lady to sit with them in the rear or there was already present one or two male passengers sitting, she returned to her companion half-heartedly, with heavy steps.

To some extent, male passengers were also responsible for that. Ladies always went to the taxi a bit slowly and men, without waiting for their turn, immediately got into the taxi, leaving the ladies waiting behind. Similarly, taxi drivers also try to avoid ladies as then they will not be able to get a male passenger to make him seated beside them.

When my taxi came and I left for my house, almost forty minutes had passed and one could realize the condition of ladies who had worked in office or school for 6-7 hours and now they were busy in even difficult drudgery, waiting for a public transport.

Most difficult and insulting is to make ladies sit in the back side cabin in cars which are called 'Siraicha'. This cabin is made for luggage in which one has to bend his body and sit in this difficult situation on the floor or metal of the car, which is always dirty and dusty. I have mostly seen animals or hen being pinched in that cabin.

Women are called the builders of coming generations. A famous Japanese quote is known to all that, 'If you give me educated mothers, I will give you an educated and developed nation', but with this treatment of ladies, I don't know which kind of generation we are going to have in future.

In today's competitive world, a lot many ladies come out of their houses for jobs. They work shoulder to shoulder with men to put their share in the reconstruction and stabilization of the country but they endure a number of physical and mental or emotional tortures while going to and coming from the job. Similarly, it is a bright element that our confident girls go to schools, colleges and universities to equip themselves with the modern education but they get more tired on the way than in the institutes.

We believe in the rights of women acclaimed internationally but in our true and unbiased religious and cultural traditions, ladies have always been preferred on gentlemen. Their dignity and pride have always been given due importance. However modern and educated an Afghan woman is, she will always be keeping a due distance from the men. It is the weapon that has protected and uplifted her dignity and self-pride and has assured her a separate, but honorable position in the society.

Since the establishment of this government, a lot of work has been done to improve the condition of ladies, but unfortunately, benefits of those steps have not been let to reach a common lady who wants her small problems to be solved. A lot many NGO's are working and they make exaggerated claims about their achievements for the betterment of ladies but truly and frankly speaking and with all the apologies to these NGO's, their functionality has mostly been limited to the conferences in the Serena Hotel, or for seminars in the airconditioned rooms and halls or programs that are visible only in TV programs or photos of newspapers.

Now is the time to strengthen our future by making efforts to lessen the sufferings of ladies and to get more rights to them, rights which are not written on slogans or repeated in books and newspapers, but the rights that are really going to make difference to them.

According to the true teachings of our religion, it has been made obligatory to men to make all the efforts to make the lives of ladies in the houses comfortable. Any kind of torture against the ladies, be it physical or mental, have been strictly forbidden. It is the responsibility of all of us, especially the religious scholars, to make the men aware of the rights of ladies granted to them by Islam. It is also needed that men and women should be educated so that they should be more responsible and sensitive regarding the rights and responsibilities of each other.

In the end, I would like to call upon all the people working for the betterment of ladies to come forward and take some practical steps to solve the transport problem faced by our mothers and sisters. There have been initiated a number of projects in different fields worth millions of dollars.

I am sure NGO's or foreign donors or relevant ministry (transport or ladies' affairs) would come forward with a separate, affordable and convenient public transport system for ladies so that their miseries might come to an end. And if not, my hopes lie with our President Hamid Karzai who has always claimed great sensibility in realizing and solving such critical issues and it is the reason why we pin our final hopes with him. I am sure this problem will not be left unnoticed.