12 women murdered in Baghlan this year

PUL-I-KHUMRI (Pajhwok): A dozen women were murdered during the outgoing solar year in northern Baghlan province, where a total of 250 cases of violence against women emerged, an official said on Sunday.

Baghlan women affairs department director, Oranoos Atify, told a gathering here that last year her department registered 203 cases of violence against women in Baghlan but the number increased to 250 incidents this year.

She added 12 of the cases were murder and the rest were harassment, sexual assault and violence cases, adding she was concerned that only two out of 12 murder cases were addressed so far.

“Violence against women is high in regions where powerful individuals or armed insurgents are in control and where government’s presence is weak.”

The director said Covid-19 containment measures also led to the increase in violence against women cases because men had to stay home,” she said.

Baghlan Hajj and Religious Affairs Department head Maulvi Naqibullah Sajjad said in most cases, illiterate people used violence against women.

“You may not have heard that a religious scholar subjects women to violence because there is no violence against women in Islam,” he added.

Participants of the gathering stressed that public awareness programs must be undertaken as a step to reducing violence against women.

Last year Baghlan department of women affairs had reported that violence against the gender had dropped in comparison with the previous year.

Hr/ma