BEHARAN LEHİB

Kabul-Yesterday, Afghan women, who came together in Kabul under the leadership of the “Spontaneous Movement of Women Activists in Afghanistan”, wanted to march to protest the increasing poverty in the country. However, their march was blocked by the Taliban militants, and journalists were prevented from taking footage from the march. The protesters took videos and shared them on social media platforms. The organizers of the march want to make their voices heard all around the world against the increasing poverty and hunger in the country and how they killed eight children in western Kabul.

“We will not give up despite threats”

“We called for a protest to demand our rights but unfortunately we couldn’t achieve the success that we wanted. Poverty and hunger killed eight children in the country. We wanted to hold a march to draw attention to the increasing poverty in the country. We wanted to make our voices heard all around the world. As Spontaneous Movement of Women Activists, we have held protests for two months. Women joining the protests have faced torture and lashing. But we will not give up and we will keep holding protests,” Rishmin Nastooh, one of the organizers for the Spontaneous Movement of Women Activists in Afghanistan, told NuJINHA.

“We will keep taking to the streets”

“Since the Taliban took the control of the country, the Taliban forces attack us as if we are their enemies,” Rishmin Nastooh said, “They surround us. As women, we want to make our voices heard and to be visible but they block the streets and avenues to prevent us from protesting. Yesterday, we faced the same thing. We were subjected to attacks, violence by them. Some of the protesters read Quran to protest the harassment they were subjected to by the Taliban forces; however, the Taliban forces continued to physically abuse us anyway. The commanders of the Taliban were also there, but they remained silent. We understand why they do this but we will keep taking to the streets even if they kill all of us.”

“We saw the fear in their eyes”

The Taliban think women activists are “atheists”, Rishmin Nastooh said, “It was actually a very painful scene. They tried to show us what women, believers or non-believers, meant for them. We also realized how the Taliban are afraid of women. We saw the fear in their eyes. We were 15 women and they were thousands of soldiers.”

“The world just watches the torture”

Highlighting that the world keeps silent against torture and pressure we have faced, Rishmin Nastooh said, “The world just watches the torture we have been subjected by the Taliban. Why don’t you take action against these pressures?”