Afghans demo in front of UN office

ISLAMABAD (NNI): Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) staged a protest demonstration in front of the UN office on the eve of International Human Rights Day here on Friday.

The demonstrators were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans "Down with Taliban and their foreign masters", Expel Taliban from Afghanistan" and "Long live unity and solidarity between the progressive and democratic forces and parties of Pakistan and Afghanistan".

Talking to the journalists, the chief of the RAWA, Naseema Bareen said that the women rights in Afghanistan are being trampled wince coming into power of the Taliban. She said that maltreat is meted out to the Afghan women as they are not allowed to go to schools.

The demonstrators later submitted a resolution to the UN official saying that the Afghan nations is still burning in the flames of war at a time when the world is celebrating the Human Rights Day in the threshold of the 21st century.

The resolution has accused the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan of disgracing civilized principles of political and legal liberties with their chauvinistic and fascistic attitudes. The Taliban are in no way a source of benefit for the people of Afghanistan rather they will drag the country more and more into the vortex of social and cultural devastation and economical bankruptcy through promoting poverty, illiteracy and depriving women from their basic rights in the name of Islam and Shariat.

"We have spoken out from time to time that Jehadis and Taliban are birds of a feather and are equally despised by our people and must be put in trial as the most savage war criminals", said the resolution.

The resolution strongly condemned financial or military assistance and support to the Taliban and other Afghan groups by neighbouring countries and others. "By supporting Afghanistan terrorist bands these countries prove that they are only running for their own political and economic interests and prefer such interests to the fate and future of our people and their love for freedom and democracy. And such an attitude is nothing but the worst enmity with the human rights at the scale of a country", the resolution said.

The resolution termed the Rome meeting initiated by former Afghan monarch Zahir Shah as a positive sign. It said that the UN sanctions imposed on Taliban will not have any important impact on them as they are much affluent in dollars and pounds. In fact, these curbs would affect the poor people of war-ravaged Afghanistan.

RAWA called upon all-pro-democracy organizations not to remain mere spectators to the savage violation of human rights and great tragedy in Afghanistan but raise voice against the fundamentalists and prove their sincerity to our people and particularly women in practice.

The resolution also expressed solidarity with the struggle of the freedom loving forces in Iran, Kashmir, Kurdistan, Palestine, Sudan, Asia, Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world.