‘Deceived and raped’, Pakistani female doctor seeks justice

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): A female Pakistani doctor was brought to southern Helmand province through irregular channels to treat women patients against a monthly salary, however she was not only denied the promised money but also subjected to violence and repeated rape by the Afghan man who staged the deceive for several months.

How was Dr. Anesa brought to Afghanistan?

Dr. Anesa, not a real name, was brought to Helmand province with her Pakistani husband without formal travel documents through irregular channels by a local doctor. The three of them had decided that Anesa would treat women at the local doctor’s private clinic and they would earn money this way.

After three months Dr. Anesa and her husband went back to Pakistan, but they did not return. The local doctor visited Pakistan and again brought Anesa to Helmand, but this time without her husband consistently

The local doctor told Anesa he would give her 70,000 Pakistani rupees per month in return for treating patients at his clinic, but it was only a fraud.

Anesa in prison:

“I lived in the clinic. He (the clinic owner) proposed me marriage but I was already married so I refused. He did not allow me to have or use phone and did not pay my salary for the seven months I spent there. He did whatever he wanted and curtailed my freedom.” she said.

Anesa said during the period she endured different kinds of torture and she always tried to find a way out.

“I tried my best to hand over myself to police and free myself from torture and violence end all this deceive. Finally, a girl guided me to a vehicle and I got on that and handed over myself to police,” she said.

She is currently in the central prison in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, fighting her case to return to Pakistan and reunite with her family.

While going to the court, Anesa narrated her story to Pajhwok Afghan News. She recalled that she left her husband and a seven-year-old daughter in Pakistan and came to Helmand to serve people as well as earn money.

But the local doctor who brought her to Helmand through irregular routes and on fake documents broke all his promises. He denied her the promised 70,000 rupees monthly salary and used her for sexual satisfaction and earned money through her services at his clinic.

The Pakistani doctor worked for seven months at the local doctor’s private clinic situated near his home.

“I told the entire story to the police and the same day the doctor came and told the police that she is my wife and had escaped from home.”

She said as there was no safe home in Helmand, she was spending her days and nights in the jail to get justice.

She asked the authorities concerned to resolve her problem soon, so she could go back to her home in Pakistan.

Anesa had connection with the local doctor: villager

a local resident, who wished to go unnamed, said the Pakistani doctor had a connection with the local doctor, who has already a wife.

He said: “After their marriage, Anesa asked the local doctor to divorce his first wife but he refused and thus the dispute erupted.”

Meanwhile, Helmand Prosecutor Esa Khan Umar Khel told Pajhwok Afghan News the Pakistani woman’s case had been earlier registered under the adultery law but the court rejected that and suggested filing a human trafficking case.

He said the National Directorate of Security (NDS) prosecutor had been tasked with investigation of the case.

A source said the local doctor has also been arrested. The doctor insists Anesa is his wife and they have tied the knot but the woman claims she is a victim of adultery and she has rejected the marriage. The source said the issue would become clear after the investigation.

The forensic department, however, said the Pakistani woman had been sexually assaulted as they found no sign of mutual consent.

We are unaware of the case: Justice Department head

Mohammad Tayyib Atal, head of the human and migrant trafficking commission and justice department, said the case of Pakistani female doctor has not yet reached them but they will follow the case.

Fatema Abidi, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AHRC), said they had followed the case from A to Z.

She said the Pakistani doctor had been deceived, denied her salary and access to mobile phone.

She, however, said Anesa was not totally right and the dispute had erupted over money.

We are unaware: Akher Mohammad

Akher Mohammad, deputy Pakistani Consul General in the south, said they had received no such complaint and they were unaware about the case. He assured of following the case.

Deceit is illegal in Islam: religious scholar

Religious scholar Mufti Hujatullah told Pajhwok Afghan News that deceit and fraud was against human and Islamic principles. He stressed no one should use fraud and deceit for success and promotion in life.

Incidents of fraud have recently increased not only in Afghanistan but in the whole of the world, with most of the victims happen to be women.

Article three, clause first of the Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants 2017 Law says, “To recruit, transfer, transport, harbor or receive a person for the purpose of exploitation, using the means of deceit is human trafficking”.

Article 10 of the Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants 2017 Law says, if the trafficked person is woman or child, the accused could be sentenced to eight years in jail.