By Sayed Noor-ul-Ayn
In a tragic tale, tribal law lessens the emotional blow to a family selling its daughters out of financial desperation.
Yet
the sanctioned sale of girls in traditional communities highlights how
girls and women are still regarded as commodities in Afghanistan.
Two
girls and a little boy surround their mother, Shazia Sediq, who
clenches her hands nervously under a blue burka. Like their mother, the
children have not laughed in a long time.
Ramzia, 13
and Aziza, 11 wipe tears from their face as the elder sister explains
their loss: “I wish Aziza and I were boys,” Ramzia said. “We could go to
the city and polish shoes. We could make money and stop the sale of our
little sisters.”
A question of honour
Their
father Gholum Sediq — a suspected Taliban militant — originally sold
Ramzia and Aziza to a person from neighbouring Baghlan Province for
45,000 Afghanis (US $796) shortly before he was arrested for his
involvement in a road mine case in his village of Yateem in Chahar Darah
District in Kunduz Province.
When Sediq was sent to
prison and the girls’ buyers came to retrieve them, the villagers
interfered, insisting that it was dishonourable for the girls to be
bought by strangers.
A Jirga — an assembly of elders
who make decisions for their communities based on tribal law— stepped in
and decided that Sofi Khan Mohammad, a man from their village with no
children of his own, could buy Sediq's twin other baby daughters - Razia
and Marzai - for 12,000 Afghanis (US $213) instead of Ramzia and Aziza.
A financial transaction
Afghan girl's wedding day. (Photo: Paula Bronstein)
Now
sitting in prison, Sediq claims he had no other way of providing for
his family. “No father wants to be away from his children. But there is
nothing I can do now,” he said.
Although there are
no official figures, many families of imprisoned Taliban have likely
experienced similar desperate situations.
“I am very
happy,” Soufi Khan Mohammad said of his purchase. “When Razia and Marzia
grow up, I will make several times more than what I paid. Until then,
they are my daughters.”
A tradition of selling girls
Throughout
Afghanistan, women are bought and sold like any other commodity,
according to Nadera Giyah, Director of the Provincial Department of
Women’s Affairs in Kunduz Province.
“If we do not
fight and exterminate these unacceptable traditions, this problem of
selling women and girls will not be addressed,” Giyah said, citing
numerous examples of girls being swapped for expensive breeds of dogs or
sold into prostitution.
Various civil society groups
have launched a campaign to reunite the baby girls with their mother.
Najeem Rahim, editor-in-chief of Rasanaee Newspaper, a member of this
campaign, said the initiative managed to collect 25,000 Afghanis ($ US
445) for the Sediq family to take care of their children.
“We are trying to open a bank account for the family so that people could donate to their account on regular basis,” Rahim said.
Nevertheless,
the Jirga deemed the mother, Shazia Sediq, financially incapable of
caring for her children, thus Razia and Marzai would remain with
Mohammad.
Motherless children
Yet
since the girls are only eight months old, the Jirga stipulated that
Mohammad bring the children to their mother every other day for a few
hours until they mature into puberty.
Shazia says
that although she misses her children dearly, she has no way of
providing for their food, clothes and other necessities. She accepts the
Jirga’s decision for her girls to remain with their purchaser Mohammad.
According
to Shazia Sediq, the Jirga said when father Sediq is released from
prison and wants buy back his children, he would have to reimburse
Mohammad the purchase price plus the children’s living expenses incurred
over the period they lived with Mohammad. The Jirga estimated the
annual expenses for the children to be 35,000 Afghanis (US $623).
The Jirga's word
Mohammad
Zaher Azimi, Director of the Provincial Department of Labour and Social
Affairs, said they provided financial assistance to Shazia Sediq and
allegedly returned the two girls to their mother.
The
authority, however, is unaware of the Jirga’s decision and is unable to
visit the family because of the threat of Taliban in the area.
“The Jirga sold the girls to me and nobody in the world can change it,” Mohammad said. “These girls are mine now.”
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