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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Landmines Make Spinsters of Young Afghan Girls |
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| jannah |
| 05/09/03 at 04:12:59 |
| Very sad, but I wonder why the article focuses on 'conservative islamic culture' repercussions and not the war mongerers who put the mines there in the first place. Landmines Make Spinsters of Young Afghan Girls By David Brunnstrom SHOMALI PLAIN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Ten-year-old Shakila may never marry. Three years ago she walked out of her house on Afghanistan's Shomali Plain and stepped on a land mine that blew off her right leg. Shakila is one of the tens of thousands of Afghans who have fallen victim to land mines, indiscriminate weapons that do not distinguish between combatants fighting over turf and civilians simply trying to live their lives. After 23 years of war, the countless numbers of mines that remain buried in Afghanistan still kill or maim more than 100 people every month. The injuries they cause are devastating for all victims, but especially for women. Workers at an International Committee of the Red Cross orthopedic center in Kabul say that while the injuries carry little social stigma for men, this is not true for women in a conservative Muslim country where females are expected to be perfect models of conformity. Physiotherapist Rohafza Naudri lost a leg to a mine when she was 11. She said it is difficult for women with such injuries to find a husband. "Nobody wants to marry them, they don't have much of a chance," she said after fitting Shakila with a new prosthesis. "People think they can't work at home and they can't look after the house. It's also difficult for them to make friends, nobody really accepts them." Asked if Shakila, a shy girl with a pretty smile and a cute orange dress, would be able to find a husband, she replied: "It's very difficult." Alberto Cairo, the Italian head of the ICRC project, estimates there are as many as 40,000 war amputees in Afghanistan, nearly 30,000 of whom are treated at Red Cross centers which also help victims of polio and congenital deformities. BUSY LIMB FACTORY As well as being a place for treatment, the Kabul center is a small factory where production lines churn out 350 state-of-the-art prostheses every month. All the workers on the line are themselves disabled, though it is often difficult to tell. The carefully fitted and molded prostheses mean that with practice, most can walk with barely a trace of a limp. In an irony that still amuses Cairo after 13 years on the job, the rubber used to make shock absorbers for the heels of the prostheses is recycled from Russian tank treads. "It gives us some pleasure to take something meant for war and put it to peaceful use," he said. "It's the best quality rubber -- we are very grateful to the Russians." Many of Afghanistan's mine victims are wounded by weapons left over from the 10-year Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Others are hurt by mines laid during civil war in the 1990s. The United Nations says at least 180 sites were "contaminated" by munitions, including thousands of deadly cluster bomblets, dropped during the U.S. bombing that ousted the Taliban in 2001. Dan Kelly, head of the U.N.'s Afghan mine clearing operation, says an estimated 320 square miles of Afghanistan is mined, denying land to returning refugees, for agriculture and vital infrastructure rebuilding projects. The United Nations says it will take another five years to clear areas designated high priority and a further five years to finish the job to make life safe for children like Shakila. It launched a mine awareness month on April 15, with the goal of encouraging both the government and local factional commanders to start destroying stockpiles in accordance with Kabul's accession last year to the global ban on land mines. Kelly said that in the past 13 years, the Afghan program, the biggest in the world with more than 7,000 employees, has cleared about 2.7 million items of ordnance, including a quarter million anti-personnel mines and 30,000 anti-tank mines. DANGEROUS, EXPENSIVE WORK It is a costly, dangerous and painstaking task and the U.N. program this year will require $61 million. Although the project is seen as high priority by donor countries, only about 65 percent of that has so far been offered and there is concern that demand for post-war Iraq could slow donations. "Currently we have no actual stoppage of funds because of Iraq, but as happens throughout the world when there is an emergency, donor fundings do get diverted," said Kelly. He said 75 deminers had been killed and 250 wounded in the past 13 years, but there is no shortage of recruits in Afghanistan, where demining is considered noble work. Abdul Razaq, clearing part of the Shomali Plain north of Kabul, said he would rather be doing the work than pursuing another calling for Afghan males -- jihad, or holy war in the name of Islam. "I respect human life and it is a great honor for me to save the life of another by risking my own, especially as my fellow citizens are proud of me," he said. Razaq said five people and eight farm animals had been killed by mines where he was working -- part of the front line between Taliban and opposition forces from 1999. "Recently, in this garden opposite me, a small boy lost his leg and four animals were killed by a mine," he said. Razaq said mine clearance should by the highest priority in international assistance to Afghanistan. "Every day we have one or two incidents here. As long as mines exist, nobody is able to do anything. Farmers cannot work their fields and there won't be jobs for the people." Razaq said the effort was also vital to the success of the government's faltering bid to disarm rival factional armies. "If a man gives up his gun to the government, what can he do if he cannot work because there are mines everywhere?" |
| Re: Landmines Make Spinsters of Young Afghan Girls |
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| Halima |
| 05/12/03 at 02:57:02 |
| [quote]Very sad, but I wonder why the article focuses on 'conservative islamic culture' repercussions and not the war mongerers who put the mines there in the first place.[/quote] Easy, because potraying Islam as harsh religion sells is the norm nowadays. The fact that culture is the reason why Shakila can not "marry" is not important. The fact that she is a Muslim and the people are Muslim is what counts to the writer. But I agree that it is very sad and tragic about the landmines. Innocent people who had nothing to do with the "wars" are the ones paying dearly. [quote]Razaq said the effort was also vital to the success of the government's faltering bid to disarm rival factional armies. "If a man gives up his gun to the government, what can he do if he cannot work because there are mines everywhere?" [/quote] As for the above, it is painful to read and know about it. [wlm] Halima |
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