Sitara Achakzai, a well-known women’s rights activist and a member of Kandahar’s provincial council was shot and killed yesterday by Taliban gunmen who approached her rickshaw on motorbike. The news of Ms. Achakzai’s death spread quickly, shocking women throughout the city who saw her as a role model. Security has deteriorated in ultra-conservative Kandahar, and women have especially suffered. Assassins working for the Taliban have recently killed several prominent women, including famous policewoman Malalai Kakar. Kidnappings are also a regular occurrence. Many Afghans are growing hopeless about the situation, as a friend of Ms. Achakzai expressed: “I have no faith in my government. I have no faith in the Taliban. I have no faith in the international community.”
It is not just in Kandahar where the already limited rights of Afghan women are in jeopardy. A new law passed by Parliament and signed by President Karzai imposes Taliban-like restrictions on women from the Shiite minority. The law has provisions allowing for marital rape and requiring women to receive their husband’s permission to work outside the home, go to school, or dress up. On Wednesday about 300 women took to the streets of Kabul to protest the law. The women started their march in front of the School of the Last Prophet, run by the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric, who played a large role in drafting the law. After a confrontation between the women and hundreds of students from the school, the protesters continued their two mile march to Parliament. President Karzai, facing domestic and international outcries, has promised to make sure that the law is in line with the Constitution and the rights that it provides for women.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/asia/16afghan.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
