PAN (Translated by RAWA), June 21, 2009

Honor-Killing in Afghanistan: Father Kills His Daughter and Her Lover

This year (solar year) 24 cases of violence have been recorded in the Women’s Affair

Mohammad Barat and Habib-ul-Rahman Sherzai

A father brutally murdered his daughter and a young boy for having love affairs in Samangan province, Northern Afghanistan. He stabbed them many times with a knife.

The girl was named Shakila and was 18 years old and the boy named Ghulam Sakhi was 22. This savage incident took place at 3 in the morning in Haji Umar Village of Aibak city (centre of Samangan).

Officer Amir Jan Istanikzai, police chief of Samangan, told PAN that the murder had been committed by Haji Gulbuddin, the girl’s father. He added that Haji Gulbuddin had called the police and the police went to his home and arrested him.

Stanikzai says that the he has taken the responsibility for the murder of the boy and girl so he is in custody and the case is under investigation.

Dr. Abdul Momin Frotan, in-charge in the Provincial Hospital of Samangan, said that the bodies of the boy and girl were brought to the hospital and that they both have been stabbed 50 to 60 times in their head, face and body.

Frotan claimed that according to the medical examinations, the girl has been raped.

Violence against women is widespread across Afghanistan. Qamar Jan, 18, an Afghan women was attacked in 2007 in Kabul by her angry fiance after a marriage refusal. (Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Abdul Shukoor, Ghulam Sakhi’s uncle, said that his nephew had become an orphan at the age of one and had grown up in his home and was a shopkeeper. He added that they heard that Ghulam Sakhi had disappeared the last evening but today the police told them that his nephew had been killed.

He said that he knew nothing of the relations of the girl and the boy but some people in the area said that the girl and boy were consented with each other and planned to marry. Abdul Shukoor demanded prosecution and punishment for the murderer.

Haji Gulbuddin, the murderer, told PAN that he knows this is a crime but he has no regrets; his honor demanded this and he is proud of it and whatever punishment the government gives makes no difference to him.

He said, “At night my other daughter was giving birth so I sent her with her mother to the hospital. My sons slept in one room, my daughter in the other and I slept in the hall.”

He said that at three in the morning he woke up to pray and woke his daughter to tell her he was going to the mosque for ablution and prayers so that she opens the door. His daughter said there is no key so he prayed two Rakat (units of prayer) at home and noticed that there were unfamiliar shoes near his daughter’s door. He entered her room and saw no one but when he opened the bathroom he saw a young boy who was naked.

Haji Gulbuddin continued that he asked the boy what he was doing there and that if he wanted to have relations with his daughter he should have sent a proposal. The boy said that he had made a mistake and wants to send a proposal.

He said, “I told him to wear his shirt. Then I went to the kitchen and brought a knife. First I stabbed the boy countless times and then my daughter. I took out all my anger.”

Both the directorship of Women’s Affairs and Human Rights condemned both the acts.

Hanifa Aashna director of the Women’s Affair of Samangan said that according to the information the boy had an illegitimate physical relation with the girl. Aashna said both the acts were crimes and should be condemned; the father shouldn’t have murdered them but handed them to the law to make the decision.

She said the murder of the girl and boy were due to the emotions of the father. She said this year (solar year) 24 cases of violence had been recorded in the Women’s Affair which include beating and escape from home due to lack of sustenance, but the murder of a girl and boy has been seen for the first time.

Qazi Said Muhammad Samay, head of the Human Rights Commission in the Northern Zone called both acts crimes and said that the boy shouldn’t have raped the girl and sent a proposal.

Samay says that the father (Haji Gulbuddin) should have handed the boy to the law and he should be punished according to the law for the murder of the girl and boy.

A similar incident took place on the night of 29th April in Taimoorban Village of Baghlan District (centre of Baghlan province). A father shot dead his daughter and a young boy for the accusation of having illegitimate relations. The boy was 23 and the girl was 25 and they were cousins.

Azimullah the girl’s father who is in police custody claimed that the boy had secretly come to their home at night to meet his daughter; this was against his honor and that is why he shot and killed them.

According to the police, the boy’s family had brought a proposal several times but the girl’s family was against it.

Also last month a woman named Rahila was stabbed to death in Bilchuragh District of Faryab province.

According to Sharifa Azimi, director of Women’s Affairs of Faryab, four years had passed of 18-year old Rahila’s marriage and she had a child. Rahila’s family claimed that she had been killed by her father-in-law.

But Officer Mohammad Khalil said that Rahila’s father-in-law who had been arrested regarding the matter claims his daughter-in-law had committed suicide.

According to the AIHRC in 2008 more than 2000 cases of violence had been recorded in the country including cases of murder, suicide, self-immolation and rape.

In another incident, two motor bikers had been killed by unknown armed men in Baghlan District of centre of Baghlan province. Javed Basharat, spokesperson of Commanding Security of Baghlan told PAN that these two young men were returning from their lands at 11 the previous night when they were killed with bullets of a Klashinkov.

Dr. Khalil Ahmad Narmgoy, director of Central Baghlan Hospital said that the bodies had been brought to the hospital and their bodies show signs of bullets.

Javed Frough, one of the residents of the area, said that at night illegally armed men move about and so commit these crimes.

He demanded the government to arrest such men and punish them. No one has taken responsibility for the murder till now.

Characters Count: 7842