Above you see the picture of a young woman, Rukhma, who was trafficked across the border from Pakistan to Afghanistan with her three-year-old son. In Pakistan, Rukhma was married to an abusive man who fathered her son, Bilal. Rukhma divorced her husband and married another Pakistani man by whom she became pregnant last year. Then she was kidnapped by a neighbor and taken to Afghanistan where she was raped by an Afghan man for three months. One day she overheard the Afghan finalizing a deal to sell Rukhma to another man who wanted her but not her son. Scared of losing her son, Rukhma ran away one day from the house. Unfortunately, Rukhma was soon discovered by the Afghan, who not only mercilessly beat her but also murdered her son in front of her eyes. When the Afghan police arrived, they arrested the Afghan murderer and rapist as well as Rukhma. Although her tormentor received a 20-years jail term, Rukhma was also imprisoned on charges of adultery.

Rukhma’s case is not a stray incidence but the social condition of the women in Afghanistan, which has not changed even after the US led NATO invaded the country overthrowing the Taliban regime. Under the new Afghan constitution, women have the right to education, can get a job and are to be always protected by the law, but in reality, women especially in rural Afghanistan are as vulnerable as before. Violence against women has in fact risen in the last one year. According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, there were 2,374 reported cases of violence against women in 2007 while the figure in 2006 was 1,651. In 70 to 80 percent of these cases often the woman is charged of criminal activities for running away from the home and committing adultery. In incidences of rape, where it is very difficult to prove the allegations, the victim is accused of adultery and thrown into the jail.

After the fall of the Taliban, condition of the Afghan women has hardly improved. 80 per cent of them are illiterate, 54 per cent of the girls are forcefully married off before they are 18. Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world with 15,000 mothers dying every year from preventable pregnancy related complications. The ongoing militarism has increased the incidence of violence over women. Ever since the US invaded Afghanistan, attacks on women have increased. There has been rise in kidnapping, murders of women engaged in community work, forced and honor killings, self-immolation and trafficking.

via:MSNBC