As many as 10 people – five women and five men – were reported to have committed suicide in various provinces in the country in the past month, while six women were killed by relatives or unknown armed men, statistics collected by an Amu TV reporter reveal.
According to data collected, the incidents, suicides and killings, took place between January 7 and 29 this year in Herat, Ghor, Nimroz, Parwan, Panjshir, Baghlan, Bamiyan, Uruzgan, Badakhshan, Balkh, and Faryab provinces.
Sources told Amu TV that domestic violence, the prohibition of girls’ education and forced marriages have been the motives for these incidents.
Five women committed suicide in January
One victim of suicide, Sakina, from Dahandrodi village in Taywara district in Ghor, shot herself earlier this month after refusing to agree to a forced marriage.
A relative of Sakina said: “The family planned to force Sakina to marry. But Sakina had no will [to marry] and that’s why she committed suicide with a gun.”
In another incident, in Zaranj city, in Nimroz province, a young girl hanged herself due to the ban on education for women.
A source in Zaranj, who wished to remain anonymous, told Amu TV: “This girl’s name was Fareshta and she was 16 years old. Farishta studied at Noorahmad Azizi school and was very intelligent. On January 20, when she wanted to go to an English language center, her brother did not allow her to go to the course, and the schools were already closed to them by the Taliban, so she committed suicide,” the source said.
According to reports, a 50-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl died in Yakawlang No. 1 and Sayghan districts of central Bamiyan province after eating rat poison this month. Another woman, named Amail, hanged herself in the basement of her home in the Dahan Dara-e-Murghabi in the Gurziwan district of northern Faryab province.
All three women were victims of domestic violence.
Five men committed suicide in January
During the first month of 2023, alongside the suicide of women, a number of men also ended their lives for various reasons, mostly due to family disputes. The men either shot themselves or hanged themselves.
One source told Amu TV that “a young man named Omid, who was a resident of Dizak village of Deh Salah district in Andarab, hanged himself to death over family problems. This man had argued with his father about some issues and then strangled himself to death with a rope,” a source said.
According to data from Faryab province, a young man from Kohi village of Qaisar district ended his life with a gun.
Hamidullah Butshekan, the spokesman of the Faryab security command, said that the name of the victim was Mohibullah and his suicide was attributed to family disputes.
Meanwhile, three men committed suicide in Balkh, Badakhshan, and Uruzgan provinces in January this year.
Sources said that a 15-year-old boy named Fazl al-Rahman, who was a resident of the Qal-e-Zal district of Kunduz province and was working in Balkh province, hanged himself inside his employer’s home in the Qarn Toghi village of Kaldar district of the province.
In another incident, a 15-year-old boy from Badakhshan named Noor-ul-Huda and another young man from Qale-Raq area of Chora district of Uruzgan, named Ahmadullah, shot himself.
Six women murdered in January
At least six women were killed in incidents involving family members and unknown attackers in Parwan, Herat, Nimroz, and Panjshir provinces.
Sources in Parwan, said on a condition of anonymity, that two women were killed by family members in the Bagram and Siah Gard districts of the province.
“Zubaida, 18, was beaten up and then strangled to death by her brother and her brother’s father-in-law inside their home in the Tikhan village of Siah Gard district of Parwan. Moreover, another 20-year-old woman – named Espana – was tortured to death by her husband in the Dorahi area of Koh Safi in the Bagram district,” a source said.
A source in Herat, who does not want to be named, told Amu TV that a man named Iraj shot dead his wife and his mother-in-law in the Islam Qala town of Khuhsan district of Herat province for unknown reasons.
According to other sources, a Taliban member killed his 35-year-old wife in Zaranj city of Nimroz and the body of a girl was found in the Rakha district of Panjshir province. She was killed by unknown people.
Action taken by Taliban
The Taliban has said in separate announcements that a number of suspects have been arrested in connection with the killings and investigations are underway to identify and arrest the remaining killers.
According to the announcements, the Taliban has arrested and imprisoned four of the perpetrators in Parwan and Nimroz provinces.
