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Joya Speech Breaks Wall of Silence
Some call her a hero; some say she should be silenced. But the young female
delegate from western Afghanistan who dared to call mujahedin leaders
"criminals" has captivated her fellow citizens - even those who didn't care
much about the Constitutional Loya Jirga before.
The speech of Malalai Joya, a 25-year-old delegate from Farah province, on
the fourth day of the Loya Jirga was widely publicised, and now the public
is clamouring to see photos of her.
Joya's words caused a storm of controversy - not because her opinion was
unusual, but because public criticism of jihadi leaders is rare and has
always brought a severe backlash, including death threats.
But her speech, less than two minutes long, has broken through the wall of
silence, and ordinary people now feel they can voice their criticism, too.
Safia Shahab, a Kabuli in her mid-20s, said Joya is the leader of Afghan
women. "Malalai's speech was absolutely correct," she said. "These
mujahedin blew Kabul city to pieces in the civil war."
Mohammed Nasir, a 25-year-old resident of Khak-e-Jabar village near Kabul,
is among Joya's big fans after he heard about her speech on the radio. "If I
get her picture, I will keep it with me, because she has pulled back the
curtain to expose the facts," he said.
Demonstrations have been held in support of Joya in several provinces, the
BBC has reported.
Some think so highly of Joya that they want to give her the title of "the
second Malalai". Malalai is a famous 19th century Afghan woman who is
credited with turning the tide in the battle of Maiwand, against the
British. When the morning of the battle began with numerous casualties and
Afghans began surrendering or running away, Malalai took up a sword to fight
the British herself, singing an Afghan song, and inspired her countrymen to
keep fighting.
Joya's foes, however, believe that her words were an offense to Islam and
jihad.
Abdul Halim Haqparast, 60, said that Joya be tried for saying such "rubbish,
and insulting to Islam and mujahedin. She should be put on trial. And the
court should be made off Ulemas [religious scholars].
"Any decision the Ulemas make should be implemented, so that other women
don't dare to do the same."
A student of Islamic law faculty at Kabul University, Sayed Afzel Sayidi,
thinks that Malalai got it backwards, "The communists are the criminals who
brought all this misfortune to our country - not the mujahedin. The
mujahedin's protection of our country's daughters was a blessing, and they
protected women from the evil of communists."
While not directly using the words jihadis or mujahedin, Joya referred to
some of the Loya Jirga delegates and leadership as criminals who "destroyed
the country".
"They made our country the centre of national and international fighting,"
she said in her speech. "They were the people who put our country in its
current condition, and want to again....
"They should be tried in national and international courts. Even if our
people forgive them, history will not."
Her remarks caused some jihadi leaders to charge the stage, crying "Death to
Communism!" and "Allahu Akbar [God is great]!"
Loya Jirga chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddidi at first tried to remove Joya
from the assembly, but backed down when other delegates objected. Joya was
then asked to apologise, but she stood her ground and would not retract her
accusations.
Joya, who is staying with other delegates in the dorms of the Polytechnic
near the Loya Jirga tent, has been given additional protection by the Afghan
National Army and ISAF peacekeepers. The night of her speech, a group of men
awakened the female delegates by shouting threats and calling her names. But
security officials said they were not aware of any direct threats to Joya's
life.
She has been criticised by conservative leaders, including Herat governor
Ismail Khan, and jihadi groups. Mujahed, the weekly newspaper of
Jamiat-e-Islami party, published reports that the national intelligence is
trying to link Joya to a radical women's organisation and claim that she and
her father were connected to communist groups.
A member of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf's Ittehad-e-Islami party, Ali Qaiser Amanzai,
37, thinks that Joya's speech was really the work of other people. "Someone
else provoked Malalai Joya to bring chaos into the jirga, and make the jirga
fail," he said.
Zabul province delegate Saifullah Haqbayan thinks that the speech of Joya
was rude and not in keeping with Islamic society. "Freedom of speech doesn't
mean that you say anything that comes into your head," he said.
However, others criticised Mujaddidi for his handling of the incident.
Sayed Afzel, a 42-year-old Logar native and shopkeeper in Kabul, said that
Joya's speech was correct and that Mujaddidi did not have the right to try
and evict her, "Mujaddidi is an appointed delegate. He should not throw out
an elected member who was chosen by the public."
Kabul paramedic student Arif Ahmadzai, 21, is also supportive of Joya and
angry with Mujaddidi for telling her to apologise, "Malalai didn't commit
any sin that she should apologize for. That was her right to give her opinion."
Shila, a trainer for gender programmes, agreed, saying, "No one has the
right to expel the delegates from the meeting. Before the work of the
constitution was done by men, and enforcement was also done by men - and
still this is the way it goes on."
Those who fought the Soviet Union called it a jihad because they were
defending Afghanistan from the atheism of communism and protecting their
families from the ruthless violence of the invasion. However, after driving
out the communist regime, the jihadi leadership fell into factional fighting
for control of Kabul, killing 60,000 people during the four-year civil war
and leaving great swathes of the city in ruins.
Some former mujahedin, who went on to fight the Taleban regime, are now in
power in the interim administration. Afghans grumble that these men are
corrupt and abuse their power.
As in other debates about individual rights, mullahs are divided in their
opinions.
An imam in Karte Naw district of Kabul, Maulawi Ghulamullah Naqshbandi, says
that according to Islam women do not have the right to sit
shoulder-to-shoulder with men and "say bitter words".
But another imam from a mosque in Chilsetun, Sultan Mohammed Khairkhwa,
disagrees, "There is absolute respect for the freedom of speech in Islam.
Everyone can offer his or her opinion with a fearless heart."
Bashir Gawkh, an independent journalist from Jalalabad, is participating in
IWPR's Loya Jirga reporting project. Danish Karokhel is an IWPR
editor/reporter in Kabul.
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