By Kamran Mir Hazar

Published in (Sunday 4 March 2012)

The Afghan Ulama Council has boldly proclaimed a resolution that clearly continues to violate the right’s of women. “Ulama” is the plural form of the Arabic word “Alem” meaning “scholar”, but by no means have these men used the distinguished thoughts of a scholar to devise this mandate.

In the past ten years, the Ulama Council has been the other side of the Taliban coin. Their combined denouncement of women and proclamation against freedom of information continue to squelch the voices of truth.

The head of Ulama council is Qyamuddin Kashaf. Like Abdurab Rasul Sayyaf (a heinous war criminal), Kashaf has close ties to the Taliban. Karzai; who sides with the Taliban and has put all his energy into returning them back to power; uses the Ulama Council to proclaim his outspoken support for rigid, regressive fundamentalism.

This decree by the council strictly forbids women to work, participate in educational or social activities, nor can they travel with men who are not “mahram”. According to Islamic Sharia, only close relatives such as father, brother, son and husband are considered mahram. While Ulama ruled that men can be married to several women at the same time, the command also states that no Afghanistani woman will ever have the right to negotiate for a divorce. In addition to the mahram rule, the resolution states that women will only be allowed to receive half of the inheritance as would a man.

With the mixture of tribalism and retrogression of the Islamic regime, the crimes continue unabated in every form imaginable. Afghanistani women in great danger. Genocide, Slavery, Forced Displacement, Discrimination and War Crimes. Women have always suffered as the primary victims to these threats. Illiteracy and poverty also continue to contribute to the confinement and restrictions placed on all Afghanistani women.

Women are stoned, sold into slavery, exchanged for an animal, kept under burqa prison, forced to marry when they are mere children. Each and every day Afghanistani women continue to face never ending violations of human rights. The news travels quickly when a woman has been found murdered. The killer has cut away the woman’s hands, or feet, or nose, or ears. While a murderer can stop a heart from beating, he will never destroy the woman’s eternal spirit. Her beautiful spirit rises proudly to stand far above the men who have taken part in ending her life. Those who stand strong for human rights raise these victims up as blessed saints of suffering and pain. Their sacrifice is a beacon of hope to all women struggling to find safe haven in a country ruled by unscholarly tyrants.

Here are some photos which clearly elaborate a women’s current place in the country of Afghanistan.

Photos by Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission