My friend U is still in hiding. She has moved with her family at least five times in the past month, fearful of being targeted for her activist work. Yesterday morning, in my attempt to keep her spirits up, I told her that the night before I had been listening to Global Village on PBS radio when I heard an Afghan singer and then realised the whole program was devoted to music from Afghanistan. "Another example of how much you are in people's hearts here," I texted.
U replied, "I warmly shake the hands of all the people of the world who stand by our defenceless people in such a situation and send them lots of love. Unfortunately, I did not hear good news and there is a lot of terrible news."
She went on to write of the murder of a policewoman, Banu Negar, by Taliban militants in Firozkoh, the capital of central Ghor province.
"At around 8pm on Sunday night, 5 September 2021, the Taliban group shot and killed Mrs. Negar, a former police officer at a prison in Ghor province, at her home and in front of her husband and children. Mrs. Negar also has an infant who is five to six months old.
She was attacked because she was a police officer, and the Taliban is against women working outside the home, especially in the army and foreign organisations. Maybe she didn't have the ability to change her address so they found her easily."
The BBC report I read reported that Banu Negar was eight months pregnant. BBC sources told of three gunmen searching the house she was staying at before tying up members of the family, and beating and shooting Banu Negar dead in front of her husband and children.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujaheed denied it was the Taliban's doing, adding that it has been made public that there is an amnesty for people who worked for the previous government. It brings to my mind the words of Fawzia Koofi who stated (see the previous post) that there is a divide between the "footsoldiers on the ground" and the Taliban administration. As correspondent Lyse Doucet writes, "...there's a growing chasm between Taliban statements and the message coming from the streets where every Talib has a gun and controls his own corner." ((bbc.com)
I've learnt that Human Rights groups have been documenting revenge killings, detentions and persecution of religious minorities.
If I could, I would post every story of every single woman murdered by the Taliban.
Reference:
accessed 6/09/2021