ANKARA - Woman activist from Afghanistan who was kidnapped by the Taliban in February and had to leave the country following her release in exchange for the title deed of her family house, stated that there was an attempt for genocide against the Hazara people in the country.

 

The Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in August last year, continues to target women who are excluded from daily life. The women continue to resist for their rights despite all oppression and threats. Dozens of women from the group, who for a long time demanded their rights on the streets and called themselves "Activist Women of Kabul", were abducted in groups on different dates. Gül, who is one of the 29 women abducted by the Taliban militias from a safe house on February 11 and changed her name for security reasons, spoke to Mesopotamia Agency (MA) about how they were kidnapped by the Taliban, what happened during the interrogation, the genocide attempt against the Hazara people and Taliban's crimes against girls and women. 

 

HELD BY TALİBAN FOR 26 DAYS 

 

Gul, who managed to leave the country but did not reveal her whereabouts for security reasons, said, "The Taliban detained us on February 11. 29 women, 8 children and 12 men. We were in the hands of the Taliban for 26 days. They came to the house where we were hiding with dozens of soldiers. Many women were together. We were terrified. When they came in, they took all our electronic devices from us. They took our phones, checked our Whatsapp groups and whom we were talking to and about what. They took us to the Ministry of Interior and questioned us. They asked questions like "Why are you protesting, from whom do you take orders, from which country do you receive money, do you receive orders from the west, why are you protesting against the Islamic State?" They claimed that we are making them look bad as if we were the ones who made them look bad. We told them again and again that this is not true, that we were protesting for women's right to education and women's right to work and freedom, and that we do not take any money from anyone. We want our right to go to school, to work. We want freedom."

 

26 DAYS OF DETENTION

 

Speaking about the 26 days of detention, Gül said: "Even though the interrogation was very harsh and we were subjected to psychological torture, we were not physically tortured. We realized that they were afraid to beat us. Because the world knew us because of our actions since the Taliban's entry into Kabul, because we tried to make our voices heard. The people knew that we were detained by the Taliban. Although we were not tortured, we could hear voices from other rooms. They were always asking the same thing, and our answers did not change."

 

THEY WERE RELEASED IN EXCHANGE FOR THE TITLE DEEDS OF THEIR FAMILY HOUSES

 

Stating that the title deeds of their families' houses were confiscated in return for their release, Gül said, "They started to pick the men in our families one by one. They made them sign documents, promising that the women in their families would be involved in any demonstration ever again. They took the title deeds of the properties the men in our families owned and said, 'If your women continue to protest, we will confiscate these houses.'

 

WE WERE STRIPPED OF FROM OUR IDENTITIES

 

Emphasizing that they can only continue their struggle through social media and that they are trying to inform the people about the developments in Afghanistan, Gül said: "Some of the women who were kidnapped with me were able to escape from the country. However we are still not safe. We can't go out protesting. We can't talk to the press with our own names or they will arrest our families and confiscate their homes. They stripped us from our identities. Unfortunately many of our sisters were left behind and they are not safe. They are hiding. The Taliban have blocked and neutralized all women's actions and women's organisations. Some women are doing some protests at home but those protests are not effective."

 

TALIBAN IS THE ONE DOING THE BOMBINGS

 

Referring to the recent bombings in Afghanistan, Gül said, "The Taliban itself carries out these bombings. It carries out bombings in the regions where the Hazaras live, in the regions of the Shiites, and against girls and women who want to  go to school. You know on the 19th of this month a school where girls were attending was bombed. Right now Afghanistan is going through a very difficult period. People are terrified, but the world is not speaking out against it. There is a deep silence. It is very hurtful. Women are currently trying to speak out on social media in the face of the Taliban's genocide attempt against the Hazaras. We are trying to say that we also are the citizens of this country, we are citizens of Afghanistan, our blood is red like yours. All we can do against Afghanistan's tyrannical government is this at the moment."

 

TWITTER STORMS

 

Expressing that they are trying to raise their voices with the hashtags #StopKillingAfghans, #StopHazaraGenocide, #stopkillinginnocentcivillian, #StopThisWar on the social media, Gül said: "I heard about the attack Turkey is carrying out on Iraqi Kurdistan. I wish peace and reconciliation to all our peoples in Afghanistan, in Kurdistan, in Syria in all the Middle East. I pray for all of us. I hope the people of Turkey also wish peace for their own future."

 

 

MA / Gözde Çağrı Özköse