A top ranking Afghan police officer was assassinated today and for some reason this particular news item really got under my skin.
This police officer was a senior officer who led the department of crimes against women. A pretty formidable task in Afghanistan made even more so by the fact that this officer was a woman, her name was Malalai Kakar. Marie Claire magazine did an article on her (read it HERE) and reading it made me even more pissed at the Taliban.
For many in Afghanistan this woman had no business being outside, let alone to hold a job, and never mind that she held public office. However she believed in what she was doing and believed that she had a duty to help others that was bigger that her own life.
Ms. Kakar was a woman in a country where the previous regime believed that women are simply property of a man. Like a spoon or a chicken. Well except you can put a spoon to work, and a chicken is allowed outside. This is something I think a lot of American women like myself have a hard time imagining, because after all it's imagination - we can escape it by simply opening our eyes.
This makes me so mad. And so appreciative that I live where I do and have the life that I have. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the Muslim religion, as I do any other faith, when it is not corrupted by extremism. I know plenty of Muslim women, some cover their hair and some don't, but all are true believers and their faith isn't lessened by how they practice it.
I am angry with the Taliban for killing her and for being so self-righteous about it. They believe that they are following the word of God, but they are not. They are vengeful and petty ignorant fanatics who follow a corrupted version of Islam. I expect that Ms. Kakar will find her reward in paradise while her assassins will not.
5 comments:
Religion and faith are not to be appreciated. They are to be detested.
That's a shame alright. I generally hate reading about "women's issues" and "women's rights" nowadays because the majority of the stuff is written in a Carrie Bradshaw fake manner. I'm referring to the mainstream media here BTW (maybe I've just stopped reading it properly at this stage).
This is real news, this is really about women's issues. This is a bloody travesty. She was one brave lady who should be an inspiration to us all.
Anonymous: I hope you live somewhere that you can voice that opinion.
JK: I agree completely about the Carrie Bradshawization of women's issues in mainstream media. Totally infuriating. And then to make me MORE mad we have someone like Sarah Palin running for VP, who wants to make sure to set the sisters back to Biblical times! Gah! I cannot imagine a task more difficult than being a police woman in a culture that suppresses women and on top of that to be a wife and a mother of six. I can't complain and oh yeah, thanks for reading!
I am doing research on women under the Taliban, and every time I read something about a woman being killed, or more rules, I get increasingly more mad. I hate them! Ms. Kakar should be an inspiration! I hope she is in Paradise, while the Taliban should all be killed!! I hate them!!!
may,these enemies of peace be removed from earth.
Post a Comment