EDITORIAL : THE OUTLOOK, AFGANISTAN

                   

 

Terrorists Usually Deny Mass Casualties

It is clear that Taliban militants, as a branch of wider terrorist network in the region and world, have been actively engaged in act of violence to cause fear for the purpose of changing behavior in the society. Their common acts of atrocities continue to be suicide attacks, roadside bombings and kidnappings, which often lead to mass casualties in Afghan society and to which ordinary Afghans usually fall victims.

The terrorist attacks carried out by the Taliban militants and other insurgent outfits continue to have three major consequences, which are: mass destruction, mass casualty and mass disruption. Their insurgent activities continue to cause damages to roads, bridges and other government installations and buildings, which have mainly been constructed with the aid money from international community and donors. It becomes clear when one travels the highways that have been built after the fall of Taliban in late 2001.

Almost every five minutes, more or less, one comes across the ruined parts of the road caused by Taliban militants through roadside bombings. The Taliban militants remain the major cause of civilian casualties, which often take place in huge numbers as on Saturday, June 25, 2011, more than 60 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a hospital in Logar province. According to reports, another 120 people were wounded in the blast in the remote Azra district.

Deen Mohammad Darwish, spokesman for the provincial governor was reported to have said, "The information we have is that a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a hospital, killing 35 civilians and wounding 45 more." Although the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied responsibility and said insurgents never attack hospitals, it is to be mentioned that since they do not want to turn the local people against themselves, they usually deny the responsibility for the attacks that lead to mass casualties and the Logar suicide bombing on Saturday is one of those attacks. That is why it is rightly said that "the nature of modern terrorism is that anyone can be a victim." The Taliban militants linked with broader network of terrorists continue to cause mass disruption in the society.

The insurgent activities have hampered economic restoration and reconstruction efforts across the country. The disruption of daily lives of Afghan people by the Taliban suicide attackers is the disruption of social, economic and political life in the country. It is hoped that there will be a day when Afghans can get rid of these terrorists.

Unreported Incidents of Rape

There are many cases of rape, torture and all kinds of violence against women in areas outside the capital, provincial and district centers that go unreported. A recent incident had been resolved by local elders in the traditional conflict resolution process in Balkh Province. A teenage girl was kidnapped and raped. Her parents wanted to kill her, but local human right activists intervened through the conflict resolving councils and saved the life of a victim of rape while the boy who had committed this heinous crime was fined some amount of money and let go without any legal punishment.

There are dozens of such cases that go unreported. People do not want to report such incidents as they are considered the matter to honor to be resolved mutually, without any third-party, the government, court or media knowing about it. In most of the cases we come to know that the rapists have fled the scene or could not be arrested.

Why do such cases occur increasingly? Regardless of the brutality committed, one of the major reasons behind such cases is that yet none of the rapists have been punished and it has encouraged perpetuators of such crimes.

Corruption and lawlessness are other major reasons in this regard. In most cases police have been failed to arrest the criminal while in some other cases rapists have been released after paying "cash". It is feared dozens of child rape cases occur across the country most of which are not reported due to certain reasons including the corruption and honor. While another factor in this regard is that according to Sharia law for rape case to be validated, victims must provide four witnesses to prove the crime other than that the raped or victims are to face adultery charges. In such cases no one is ready to go in front of Court as witness as most are feared of the influence of rapists while many are beaten by the above mentioned law; therefore, people avoid reporting such cases for legal procedure and rely on the methods of local conflict resolution by passing the proper judicial process.

The Government is needed to take stern action making some cases as paradigm for the criminals in order to reduce such cases. Corruption should be eradicated. Raped family members should be encouraged to come before Court and penalize the criminals and anti-social elements. The cases of locally resolved issues should also be investigated.

Heading Towards Democracy

The outstanding democratic moves and public demonstrations in the Middle East is mainly based on certain modern values such as democratic elections, freedom of expression, transparency in governance and basic civil rights of the citizens. The angry mobs who easily sacrificed hundreds of pro-democracy protestors have demonstrated their will to develop democratic processes and institutionalize modern human values. They have made a consensus on forming the next regimes in a manner that they become enough committed to respect rights of the citizens and put into practice the general will of democratic reforms.

It is because, depending on essence of political principles and ethical values, Politics vary from one regime to another. There are certain variables by using which the governments try to justify their practices and criticize that of their opponents. Concepts such as justice, freedom, equity, etc are frequently put forward to validate governments' approaches and practices. At the global level, complicated political and social phenomena may sometimes perplex systems that are not ready to face them.

The recent freedom-seeking movements in Middle East hold serious threats in spite of their favorable democratic achievements. The protest-rocked countries were afraid of the possible return of some despotic or extremist systems following hard days of revolution and sacrifices. However, promising indications say that nations have got enough awareness on whether to support a democracy-based ruling or provide backing for the extremist Islamic movements. They have selected democracy.

In the well-known hotbed of Islamic movements Egypt, people seem to have chosen democracy over fanaticism and radicalism. Reports said that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has joined forces with 17 other parties, including liberals and leftists, to form a common platform for parliamentary elections in September, as it seeks to allay fears among secular groups and the country's Christian minority. In a meeting on Tuesday, several Islamist, liberal and leftist parties said they would "channel their efforts... into building a state of law based on citizenship, equality and sovereignty of the people." In a statement, the parties outlined their common principles including "freedom of belief and worship", freedom of expression and a free media, the independence of the judiciary and "an economic system based on social justice."

Besides democratic reforms and political achievements in the region, rejuvenation of extremist movements remained a matter of concern. Acknowledging vulnerability of the democratic achievements made so far, none can downplay the significance of accomplishments made on the way to search for reform and democracy. Great democracies will emerge out of those newly born systems. This needs to be built on. To prevent any possible detriment to the nascent democracies, there should be some proper plans in place to take care of stability and prevention of extremist groups spreading their area of operation.