Monday, April 25, 2011

Why Is Karzai Cracking Down on Women?

Well, Hamad Karzai is showing his true colors.  There's no functional difference between him and the Taliban.  He's about to gut the private women’s rights groups by forcing them to answer to the government rules and regulations.  The problem here is that the government is controlled by the conservative (read radical Taliban) Muslims and will undo all the progress in women’s rights of the past few years.

The women of Afghanistan will be forced back into the Hell of 7th century Islam.


FROM THEDAILYBEAST.COM:

Why Is Karzai Cracking Down on Women?

by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

The Afghan president is planning to take control of women’s shelters, accusing them of corruption. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon talks to women who are afraid their rights are being taken away as a compromise for the Taliban.

Afghan officials are moving ahead with a plan to take over the country’s 14 women’s shelters, accusing them of misusing funds and a lack of transparency, though neither allegation has to date been substantiated with any evidence.

It seems that safe havens for women suffering from domestic abuse and forced marriage would be an unlikely target for an anti-corruption crackdown from Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s government, which is mired in a number of corruption allegations, including those relating to Kabul Bank.

“Their allegations are baseless, and there is a very political reason behind this,” said Afghan civil society activist Palwasha Hassan of the Afghan Women’s Network. “We are afraid that this is just the beginning of the decline of women’s rights and every day they will take another freedom that women have won.”

As early as Monday, there could be a vote to move all shelters out of the control of NGOs, now running nearly all of the country’s shelters, and into the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. If passed by Karzai’s cabinet, women seeking shelter would be required to win approval from an eight-member board. They would face a compulsory immediate medical exam, followed by monthly medical screenings. They could be evicted from the shelter if a family member arrives to say they will take them in.

Afghan women’s advocates are vowing to battle back against the government regulation, though there is little they can do to stop the move. They say they see this as the Karzai government’s first assault on the gains women have won in the past ten years.

The Afghan president simply wants to pacify conservative elements, both Taliban and Northern Alliance, at a time in which he is seeking to make peace with the Taliban, say shelter organizers.

Item continues HERE.