Afghanistan Times
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By Mujeeb R. Awrang
KABUL: On Saturday morning, a sticky mine explosion killed two employees of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Fatima Khalil, a donor liaison officer and her driver Jawid Folad. The attack occurred in Butkhak square of PD 12th of capital Kabul.
It has been widely condemned and avalanche of condolences were shared by the Afghan high-profile leaders and as well as foreign diplomats and representatives of the international agencies. Social media is now turned to a great platform to condemn heart-wrenching incidents. Sometimes it also uses to laud an achievement. It’s a mixture of both – soreness – and happiness. The friends and colleagues of Khalil, a beautiful soul, seemingly not convince by merely condemnations only, attacking security agencies for its failure to protect the capital residents. The nature of the incident is quite ambiguous as of now neither the attack was asserted by any group nor the perpetrators identified.
Ms. Khalil studied at Afghan Turk High School and knew five languages by age of 16 and had two degrees while she was at her 22. Her family was calling her “Natasha”.
“When my (Natasha) was born we didn’t have 500 rupees to pay the midwife, so she left her to me along my mother. Poverty didn’t lead her to be a terrorist,” Lima Halima Ahmad, Fatima’s sister said.
The attacks on civilian employees of the government and non-government organizations had not been rare – recently the type of the targeting killing has surged.
Last week, a number of unknown armed men killed five employees of the Attorney General Office in Deh-Sabz district of the capital Kabul. The attackers have not been identified yet. But the Afghan government has constantly blamed the Taliban for the assassination of civilians and some prominent figures.
The increase of violence comes amid a fragile peace process launched by the US President Donald Trump’s administration, aiming to pull out all-American troops and reach a political settlement with the Taliban before US Presidential Election.
Despite disagreement by the Afghan sides, the US diplomats had pressed for a prisoner release and emphasized on early start of intra-Afghan negotiations.
Lima Halima, Khalil’s sister, said that Afghan women’s rights were once at the core of the US strategic goals but “are now considered an intra-Afghan issue which the US will not interfere with.”
She suggested the Afghan women were a political tool that was once useful for the US but not anymore.
Back in their 1990st regime, the Taliban were opposing any-type of rights for women and were treating women with less freedom. There are high risks of possible violation of women rights and freedom of speech with the re-engagement of the Taliban in the future formation of the government throughout the present fragile peace efforts.
The US and international communities have constantly reiterated support to persevere the achievements of the Afghan women and human rights gained during the past two decades, with the assistance of several international human rights organization.
AIHRC is an important human rights organization, monitoring human rights violation no matter by which group, including the Kabul administration. The agency has been working for the rights of all citizens, including the militants, without a single discrimination, and its employees working hard for justice.
It’s absolutely annoying to see Fatima being killed in the line of duty to make a justifiable environment for everyone living in this war-torn country. Her target is beyond humanity and Islamic teachings and regulation.
