Where women’s rights are “blasphemy”

By Bhumika Ghimire
Column: Nepali in America

Published: October 24, 2008

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West Lafayette, IN, United States, — In October 2007, a young Afghan journalism student, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, was sentenced to death for blasphemy after he reportedly dared to download materials on women’s rights from the Internet. On Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008, news media reported that his death sentence had been commuted to 20 years in prison.

When the United States attacked Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the aim was to get rid of the Taliban, capture Osama bin Laden and install a democratic form of government in the country that would respect all citizens and their rights, regardless of gender, religion, tribe, clan or economic standing.

Seven years have passed, and unfortunately Afghanistan is far from reaching that ideal. The Taliban is reorganizing in the tribal areas outside Kabul and is gaining strength by actively spreading its influence. Just this week, a British-South African aid worker was killed by Taliban militants for being a Christian.

Many schools for girls have been targeted by the group. In spite of millions of dollars spent by the United States and its allies, the Taliban is still present in Afghanistan and is a strong threat to the fragile peace and stability in the country.

Let us not talk about the plan to capture bin Laden. After scores of reports on failed intelligence, missed opportunities and botched operations, it is logical to think that it would be a while, a long while, before that terrorist is finally caught. I am not holding my breath.

About democracy in Afghanistan, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh is a good example of what is happening in the country. A young man is sentenced to spend 20 years in jail just because he dared to question the position of women in his country and downloaded materials on women’s rights from the Internet.

What kind of democracy and free press is President Hamid Karzai fostering in Afghanistan? The man has promised time and again that he is committed to freedom of speech and thought, in front of international leaders. In this time of need, he chose to bow down to extremist elements in Afghanistan instead of urging them to respect Kambaksh’s rights.

The injustice meted out against Kambaksh should send a clear signal to the United States and the nations that have sent troops to Afghanistan that, along with failed military pursuits, their rallying cry of “spreading democracy and freedom” has also bombed.

For the United States and its allies, Afghanistan is yet another operation to secure their interests and whatever other sanitized goals they have publicized. But for the people, for the Afghanis, this is their country, their life, their future and their children’s future. How long will they be played like a pawn?

It is easy to place all the blame for conditions in Afghanistan on the United States; after all, it was the nation that invaded Afghanistan. But let us not forget that before the U.S. attack the Taliban ruled the country. The militants treated women and minorities like substandard beings, public beheadings and mutilations were common and people were starving to death. Afghanistan was a country abandoned by hope.

After the U.S. invasion, the hope for a better Afghanistan was raised, and raised very high. Unfortunately, because of poor leadership, lack of understanding and politics, the promises made at that time were never met. No efforts were made to punish war criminals, no systematic plans to help women and girls were set up and minorities were also ignored. While everyone was focused on military victory, the Taliban found their foothold through extremism, and we are back to square one.

The tragedy in Afghanistan is not that the Taliban is back or that leaders like President Karzai have failed the people; it is the sad reality that there is still no respect for dissent, freedom of speech and freedom of thought – there is no freedom in Afghanistan. Millions of dollars have been spent on fostering democracy, and the country still has people who believe that a young man should die or spend his youth in jail for supporting women’s rights. That is what is killing the hope for Afghanistan.

(Bhumika Ghimire is a freelance reporter. Her articles have been published at OhMyNews, NepalNews, Toward Freedom, Telegraph Nepal, Himal South Asian and ACM Ubiquity. She is also a regular contributor to News Front Weekly, in Kathmandu, and Nepal Abroad, in Washington D.C. She can be reached at bhumika_g@yahoo.com.)