Recent killings in Afghanistan highlight ongoing issue of violence against women
ALEEM AGHA and GUY DAVIES
Fri, March 5, 2021,
The killing of three female journalists and one doctor this week have once again thrown the issue of violence against women in Afghanistan into sharp focus, even as peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government continue.
ISIS in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for an attack on Tuesday in the city of Jalalabad, which saw journalists Mursal Waheedi, Saadia Sadat and Shahnaz Raufi, of the Enikas television station, shot dead. Then, on Thursday morning, a female gynecologist, Dr Sadaf Elyas, was killed in another attack.
According to Attaullah Khogianai, the spokesperson for the governor of Jalalabad, Elyas was on her way to the central hospital in Jalalabad when a sticky bomb was attached to the three-wheeler rickshaw she was riding in. The bomb exploded, and she was killed on the spot, the spokesperson said.
MORE: Targeted killings threaten Afghanistan's postwar future
While most of the recent attacks on women have been claimed by ISIS, the Afghan government has accused the Taliban of being behind the spate of killings. The militant group has denied responsibility.
Part of the reason the Afghan government is blaming the Taliban is because people linked to the group were recently found guilty of killing various government employees, and one suspect detained in connection to the killings is a known member of the Taliban, an official said.
Now, the government will likely face criticism for failing to protect its citizens at a crucial time in the country's history, when attacks by the Taliban are constant despite the historic withdrawal agreement the militant group reached with the U.S. and despite the group's continued negotiations with the government.
PHOTO: Afghan journalists film at the site of a bombing attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 20, 2021. (Rahmat Gul/AP)
Some believe the killing of the four female professionals in a country as conservative as Afghanistan, is an attempt by extremists to create a climate of fear in a nation which has long struggled with incorporating the rights of women into public society. Hard-won gains could now be at risk, rights groups have repeatedly warned.
"These attacks are meant to intimidate; they are intended to make reporters cower; the culprits hope to stifle freedom of speech in a nation where the media has flourished during the past 20 years," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul tweeted. "This cannot be tolerated."
The killings of Waheedi, Sadat and Raufi also highlight another ongoing problem: the targeted killing of journalists.
PHOTO: Relatives carry the body of one of three women working for a local radio and TV station who were killed on Tuesday in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group, during her funeral ceremony in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, March 3, 2021. (AP)More
In 2020, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that Afghanistan was the most dangerous country in the world for media workers.
MORE: New killings deepen Afghan journalists' assassination fears
Shaharzad Akbar, the chairperson of the Afghanistant Independent Human Rights Commission, reacted to the news of the killings on Twitter, saying that the "Afghan media community has suffered too much" and "Afghan women have been targeted and killed too often."
MORE: Fear, uncertainty meet US troop withdrawal announcement in Afghanistan
"Afghan women are again anxious about an uncertain future," Akbar wrote. "To reach peace, fundamental human rights for all should be recognized & preserved. Any [political] process should include women's voices, concerns & aspirations & benefit from their expertise & experience."
She added that recognizing equality "is key to lasting peace" in the country.
Afghan official: Gunmen kill 7 workers, bomb kills doctor
The bodies of Afghan civilians, who were killed by unknown gunmen at a plaster factory overnight, lie in a hospital morgue in Jalalabad, Nangarhar, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 4, 2021. The victims were Hazaras, members of Afghanistan's minority Shiite community. (AP Photo)
RAHIM FAIEZ
Thu, March 4, 2021
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least seven Afghan civilians were shot and killed by a group of gunmen overnight in the country's east and a physician died when a bomb attached to her rickshaw exploded on Thursday, provincial officials said.
The Islamic State group in a statement claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying its fighters had detonated a so-called sticky bomb placed on the vehicle of a woman. The statement claimed she worked for the Afghan intelligence service in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province.
Gen. Juma Gul Hemat, provincial police chief in Nangarhar, said the shooting attack victims were workers at a plaster factory in the Sorkh Rod district. Police arrested four suspects, he added.
The laborers were all from Afghanistan's minority Shiite Hazara community, according to Farid Khan, spokesman for the provincial police chief. Some had come form the capital of Kabul, as well as central Bamyan and northern Balkh provinces, to work in the factory.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for that attack, but militants from the Islamic State group have declared war on Shiites and frequently target the Hazaras. Eastern Afghanistan has witnessed and increase of attacks by IS, including an attack on Tuesday in which three women who worked at a private TV station were gunned down in Jalalabad.
IS claimed responsibility for killing the three women — Mursal Wahidi, Sadia Sadat and Shahnaz Raufi. The three left work together and were gunned down in separate attacks while on their way home, almost at the same time.
But many other attacks have gone unclaimed. The government blames most on the resurgent Taliban, who today hold sway over nearly half the country. The Taliban, in turn, deny any role in some of the attacks and blame the government.
In Thursday's bombing in Jalalabad, the female doctor was killed while on her way to work at the provincial hospital's maternity ward.
Meanwhile in western Herat province, 39 people, both military and civilians, were wounded when security forces launched an operation to arrest a local militia commander, sparking a firefight, the governor's office said. The wounded, including three children, are being treated.
The militiaman was not arrested and remains on the run, said Wahid Qatali, the provincial governor in Herat.
The bodies of Afghan civilians, who were killed by unknown gunmen at a plaster factory overnight, lie in a hospital morgue in Jalalabad, Nangarhar, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 4, 2021. The victims were Hazaras, members of Afghanistan's minority Shiite community. (AP Photo)
RAHIM FAIEZ
Thu, March 4, 2021
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least seven Afghan civilians were shot and killed by a group of gunmen overnight in the country's east and a physician died when a bomb attached to her rickshaw exploded on Thursday, provincial officials said.
The Islamic State group in a statement claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying its fighters had detonated a so-called sticky bomb placed on the vehicle of a woman. The statement claimed she worked for the Afghan intelligence service in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province.
Gen. Juma Gul Hemat, provincial police chief in Nangarhar, said the shooting attack victims were workers at a plaster factory in the Sorkh Rod district. Police arrested four suspects, he added.
The laborers were all from Afghanistan's minority Shiite Hazara community, according to Farid Khan, spokesman for the provincial police chief. Some had come form the capital of Kabul, as well as central Bamyan and northern Balkh provinces, to work in the factory.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for that attack, but militants from the Islamic State group have declared war on Shiites and frequently target the Hazaras. Eastern Afghanistan has witnessed and increase of attacks by IS, including an attack on Tuesday in which three women who worked at a private TV station were gunned down in Jalalabad.
IS claimed responsibility for killing the three women — Mursal Wahidi, Sadia Sadat and Shahnaz Raufi. The three left work together and were gunned down in separate attacks while on their way home, almost at the same time.
But many other attacks have gone unclaimed. The government blames most on the resurgent Taliban, who today hold sway over nearly half the country. The Taliban, in turn, deny any role in some of the attacks and blame the government.
In Thursday's bombing in Jalalabad, the female doctor was killed while on her way to work at the provincial hospital's maternity ward.
Meanwhile in western Herat province, 39 people, both military and civilians, were wounded when security forces launched an operation to arrest a local militia commander, sparking a firefight, the governor's office said. The wounded, including three children, are being treated.
The militiaman was not arrested and remains on the run, said Wahid Qatali, the provincial governor in Herat.
Afghan men transport the body of one of three media workers who were shot and killed by an unknown gunmen, at a hospital in Jalalabad
Ahmad Sultan and Orooj Hakimi
Tue, March 2, 2021,
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Three female media workers were shot dead in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Tuesday, government officials said, amid a wave of killings that is spreading fear among professional workers in urban centres.
Zalmai Latifi, head of local broadcaster Enikas TV, said the three women were recent high school graduates aged between 18 and 20 who worked in the station's dubbing department.
Government sources said the women were killed on their way home from work and witnesses said gunmen shot the women in the head before fleeing. A fourth woman was injured and a hospital spokesman said she had been admitted to hospital and was fighting for her life.
Provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat said that the suspected lead attacker had been arrested and that he was connected to the insurgent Taliban. A Taliban spokesman denied the group had any involvement in the attack.
A wave of shootings and small bombs attached to vehicles in have targeted journalists, civil society workers and mid-level government employees in recent months.
The Afghan government and some foreign powers have blamed the attacks largely on the Taliban, which denies involvement. The Islamic State group also has a presence in the eastern Afghan province of Nangahar, of which Jalalabad is the capital.
"The targeted killing of journalists could cause a state of fear in the journalistic community, and this could lead to self-censorship, abandonment of media activities, and even leaving the country," said Mujib Khalwatgar, head of Afghan media advocacy group Nai.
Enikas TV's Latifi said the channel, which was set up in 2018, had employed 10 women but four had now been killed, including Malala Maiwand, a television journalist shot alongside her driver late last year.
The Taliban and Afghan government are carrying out peace talks in Doha, though progress has slowed while U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, is reviewing its plans for the peace process and the withdrawal of troops.
"These attacks are meant to intimidate; they are intended to make reporters cower; the culprits hope to stifle freedom of speech in a nation where the media has flourished during the past 20 years. This cannot be tolerated," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement on Twitter.
(Reporting by Ahmad Sultan in Jalalabad, Orooj Hakimi and Abdul Qadir Sediqi in Kabul; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield and Rupam Jain; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Gareth Jones and Alex Richardson)
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