The range of women’s protests against the deadly suicide attack on the Kaaj Educational Center in the west of Kabul, which left dozens dead and injured, has expanded to the country’s major cities. Kabul, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif respectively have witnessed women’s demonstrations in the last three days. But these protesters have been severely suppressed by the Taliban. A number of these protesters were arrested and their mobile phones were broken by the Taliban. In addition to the violent confrontation, the Taliban in Balkh province have taken guarantees from the protesting students’ families not to allow their daughters to participate in protest marches from now on.
Women and girls students at Balkh University started a street march on Monday, October 3, in protest against the bloody suicide attack on the Kaaj Educational Center in the Dasht-e Barchi area west of Kabul the capital, in which more than 50 students were killed and 100 were injured. These protesters took to the streets with the slogans: “Education is our right!”, “Death to bigotry!”, “Justice is our right!”, “Stop genocide!”, and “We want security!”.
The videotapes that have been released from the march of female students in Balkh University show that they expressed their anger towards the bloody attack on the Educational Center in Kabul with the slogans: “Break the silence, unite with us!” and “Freedom is our right, bigotry is ignorance!”.
In one of these videotapes that are circulating on social media, it can be seen that one of the protesting girls fell to the ground and others gathered around her. This video clip shows that the Taliban fighters are standing over the girl’s head with weapons and trying to drive the protesters away from the area. Sources from among the protesting students confirmed to Hasht-e Subh Daily that this student was “Faint” and fell to the ground after being beaten by the Taliban militants.
One of the protesting students, who does not want to be mentioned in the report due to fear of the Taliban, told Hasht-e Subh Daily: “We were all gathered in the Sancharki Square. Our main location was Balkh University. When we saw that there were Taliban there and we could not gather, we scattered around the square until the girls arrived from the university dormitory. The girls arrived late. We went towards the alley of the Department of Education and then went towards the Provincial Council Office, from there to the Water Supply Authority. The Taliban surrounded us in there. The Special forces the Taliban came, surrounded us, and then transferred us to the Water Supply Authority.” This student adds: “When we moved a bit, they were cursing, saying bad words to us. They were shouting that your families do not have any honor and integrity in allowing us to participate in these demonstrations.”
This protesting student further explains the violent behavior of the Taliban: “They treated us violently, they beat us. When we didn’t want to go inside the closed place, they dragged us. Our heads were cut off, they took our hijabs. They broke the phones of some of the girls who were resisting, threw their scarves off their heads, grabbed their hair, and were using physical force to move us. They forced us with gun points into the Water Supply Authority. The girls were scared,” she continues: “Two girls fainted; An ambulance came and took one of them, we don’t know where they took her, the other one was left there. They took our phones, they took our personal information. Sometimes they said that we will transfer you to the women’s prison. They kept saying that we are going to the security headquarters of the province. They searched each of us. They checked our phones. They deleted the videos. One of the girls, who had hidden her mobile phone, her mobile was seized.”
However, another video that has been widely shared on social media shows a student breaking the gate lock with a rock and other girls rushing towards the gate chanting “Silence is treason!”.
Sources from among these students confirm that after the Taliban learned that the girls of the Balkh University dormitory were planning to march, they closed the gate of the dormitory to the students. But the students broke the lock and joined the protesters. According to them, they have been severely suppressed by the Taliban. Those girls who were arrested by the Taliban have been released on bail. These protestors add that the Taliban have deleted all the videotapes and photos that were on the phones of the girls during the protests.
One of these students, who did not want her name to be mentioned in the report, told Hasht-e Subh Daily: “When the Taliban surrounded us, I deleted the WhatsApp numbers and groups from my phone. Now I don’t know how many girls are in detention.” Another student who participated in yesterday’s march in Balkh province, speaking to Hasht-e Subh Daily, said: “There are several girls’ dormitories in Mazar-e-Sharif, of which only the girls of two dormitories were able to join the protestors by forcing and breaking the locks of the gates. She adds that the Taliban had closed the gates of other dormitories since early morning and did not open them until evening.”
Earlier on Sunday, October 2, the students of Herat University also marched in protest against the so-called “Genocide of the Hazaras”. Their protest march was also suppressed by the Taliban. A video clip of the Herat University protestors released shows that a Taliban fighter grabs the arm of a girl protester and violently pushes her away from the gate. In the tapes and other pictures, it can be seen that the Taliban treat protesting girls with extreme violence.
On the other hand, the girls in the dormitory of Kabul University confirmed that they were poisoned after eating their night meal. A source from this dormitory told Hasht-e Subh Daily that about 90% of the students were poisoned, but they were not allowed to go to the hospital. They have visited the university clinic as a group and the condition of some of them has not improved so far. According to the sources, these students were supposed to protest at Kabul University on Sunday.
However, one of the students of Kabul University, speaking to Hasht-e Subh Daily, says: “The current situation of the university is completely military. The Taliban people were seen everywhere. The Taliban cars were standing at the intersections inside the university. Most of them gathered in front of the Faculty of Pharmacy. Their people were searching everywhere and everyone and the situation was very scary.”
On the other hand, the hashtag “#StopHazaraGenocide” reached 1 million on Monday, October 3, and the process of sharing this slogan continues on the Twitter platform. A number of world personalities and writers have also joined this campaign.
These protests were formed after Friday morning, September 30, as a result of a suicide attack at the Kaaj Educational Center in the west of Kabul the capital, more than 100 students were killed or injured. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in its latest published newsletter says that the casualties caused by the explosion in this Hazara neighborhood in the west of Kabul have reached 53 people, 46 of whom are girls and young women.
Before this, public sources had reported to Hasht-e Subh Daily that 57 people died and more than 100 were injured. Also, during the last four days, a number of injured people have died in this incident, and this shows that the number of casualties in this incident is increasing.
Author: Amin Kawa – Senior Reporter and Analyst, Hasht-e Subh Daily
