Honour the Blood of Afghan Women Spilled All Over Afghanistan
By
Hujjatullah Zia
March 10,
2021
The
Taliban’s parochial attitude towards democratic values does not bode well for
Afghan women. The Afghan and Taliban negotiators are quite likely to wrangle
over the fundamental rights and liberties of women — widely approved and
included in the post-Taliban Constitution — at the negotiating table in Qatar.
The Taliban show no inclination of buying into women’s constitutional rights
and freedoms, and the outfit could play hard in this respect.
Shaping the
post-deal political structure with women’s active participation will be a
highly contentious issue in the peace talks. Protecting the framework of the
Constitution and fundamental rights of women is one of the imperatives of the
Afghan republic team. The Taliban, in contrast, insist that women have to
exercise their rights and liberties according to “Islamic tenets”, a term that
could mean the Taliban’s interpretation of the Sharia law.
The contradiction
between abiding by the Afghan Constitution and the return of “Sharia law” is
likely to surface at the negotiating table. The Taliban leadership will find it
difficult to be pragmatic on this issue — it risks losing its popularity among
its proponents and the rank-and-file by backtracking on the “return of the
Sharia law”.
It is
well-known that, in the past two decades, Afghan women have made a lot of
sacrifices for securing democratic principles, rights and freedoms. The blood
of Afghan women was spilled in polling stations, schools, universities,
educational institutions, hospitals, wedding halls, streets and social and
political gatherings. In the peace talks, there could be a pushback against the
gains made by them. There are apprehensions that the Constitution will be
amended to curtail women’s rights and liberties. That will be a pyrrhic victory
for the Afghan state.
Taliban fighters, unknown armed groups and foreign forces in Afghanistan
have killed, wounded and violated the rights of Afghan women but have not been
held accountable.
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The
post-Taliban Afghan Constitution — approved with the participation of Afghan
heavyweight religious clerics, jihadi leaders, tribal elders, women, and the
United Nation’s representative and international observers in 2004 Loya Jirga —
leaves no room for gender discrimination and requires the state to observe the
United Nations Charter as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 22 stipulates, “any kind of discrimination and distinction between
citizens of Afghanistan shall be forbidden. The citizens of Afghanistan, man
and woman, have equal rights and duties before the law.” With their
participation in the Loya Jirga, Afghan clerics also reiterated their support
to non-discriminatory principles and democratic values.
Photo Source: www.https://unama.unmissions.org/
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Article 3
of the constitution states, “No law shall contravene the tenets and provisions
of the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan.” Afghan moderate religious
clerics could use this provision to reconcile their beliefs with democratic
principles. Many Afghans believe that since the constitution does not
contradict Islamic principles, it does not need to be amended. But this
provision also leaves the door open for conflicting visions of the Afghan state
and society — the Taliban’s push for a Sharia-based political structure and the
Afghans’ persistence on maintaining the constitutional framework, women’s
fundamental rights, and democratic principles. Positions could harden in the
coming days, imperilling the success of the talks.
The first
imperative for the two sides will be to show flexibility and bring down their
expectations. Second, a council has to be formed with participation of legal
experts and high-level clerics on the two sides to review the Constitution and
propose necessary amendments to the articles in case of some of them are
contradictory to Islamic tenets. A workable compromise could be reached with
the reintegration of traditional — not radical — values and democratic
principles in the Constitution. A two-step-forward-and-one-step-backward
tactics could help in reaching a speedy solution to the Afghan problems. A more
balanced political framework could prove productive for national and regional
security and will be a win-win situation. But pragmatism should not be at the
cost of human rights and women’s rights and liberties.
All the
gains of the past few years will be lost if the Taliban seek to impose their
warped ideology on the Afghan people and tailor women’s rights and freedoms to
their dogmatic convictions. Afghan women will not backpedal after heavy
sacrifices for the safeguard of their rights to life, liberty and property. The
framework of the Constitution, a product of the struggle for democracy, needs
to be seen as sacrosanct. A peace agreement at the cost of democratic gains
will not be acceptable to the Afghan nation or state.
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Hujjatullah
Zia is a Kabul-based political and legal analyst and a senior writer in Daily
Outlook Afghanistan
Original
Headline: Honour the sacrifices of Afghanistan’s women
Source: The Indian Express
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/honour-blood-afghan-women-spilled/d/124503
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