Nikbakht, a Quarter of a Century in Terrible Family Confinement

A Terrible Tragedy Against an Afghan Woman

A terrible tragedy and inhuman violence broke the hearts of millions of people all over Afghanistan and even around the world. This painful tragedy is the story of the crime against Nikbakht, a young Hazara woman who was bent over in the prison of her brothers and now only skin and bones remain of this oppressed woman. Due to the terrible torture and violence of her brothers, she is unable to speak, her teeth have fallen out and her face is bruised. While I am writing this text with tears in my throat, as a man, I curse my fellow oppressors and ask myself if such a crime has been going on under the skin of Kabul in the Hazara society in the 21st century? Unfortunately, the answer is yes, and Nikbakht, what a meaningful name that gives us hope and puts a smile on our faces, has been under the mental and physical torture of her brothers for almost 25 years, a quarter of a century.

Nikbakht's story is like the story of all women in the country. She was given to her husband when she was young, and her brothers enjoyed her herd for a while, that is, the income from her fees paid by the groom. After a few years of living together with her husband, she was divorced due to infertility, which was probably the main problem of infertility in her husband's usual stories. But this divorce put her in the captivity of her brothers and she was imprisoned all her life in the basement of her brother's house, which was like hell on earth, because of infertility and divorce, and she suffered and grew old in front of the eyes of her brothers and the oppressors of her family.

She spent all 25 years in a place where there were no sanitary and residential services like toilets, water, and other daily necessities of life, so we feel as if a wild animal was kept in a cage where access is somehow limited and risky. The prison where she was locked up by her brothers had only one room without a door a closed window and a small hatch under the window to deliver basic food. There was not enough light and no opportunity to walk, go out, or lie down. The floor of the room was full of garbage and filth and this oppressed woman had to use and breathe in this dirty solitary prison to survive. Therefore, Nikbakht fought against all the misfortunes of her fate and finally survived.

In this terrible prison, Nikbakht shed tears, moaned, and suffered moment by moment for a quarter of a century. During this period, which is actually a lifetime, none of her family members, brothers, and other relatives cared for her, nor sense of responsibility. They watched her suffering for 25 years and it was as if cruelty did not happen in the corner of their hated house. Her story is more terrible than the story of the girls who were buried alive in history. But Nikbakht was the one who felt like being buried alive with skin and bones every day for 25 years.

Imagine that the terrible prisons of the world were not such a place. The more I think about this crime, the more I despair about the humanity and humanity of Afghans. How is it possible that cowardly men like Nikbakht's brothers have imprisoned and tortured an oppressed woman in this horrible way without any crime and in the absence of a competent court ruling? She literally felt the torture at every moment and suffered from it in an atrocious manner. But she miraculously survived and is breathing now. According to YouTubers, the room where Nikbakht was locked in was horribly dirty and littered. Even worse than under the Pole Sokhta bridge where addicts lived during the republic. All the citizens of west Kabul have smelled the stench under the Pole Sokhta bridge. It is said that the room where Nikbakht was imprisoned was no less than under that bridge and was far worse than all the inhumane prisons in the history of mankind.

The video report of YouTubers controlled by the Taliban that I saw from Nikbakht prison made my hair stand on end, and I said to myself, what era are we living in? Are there really still men like the Nikbakht brothers in today's Hazaras society where we all talk about social change and non-violence in society? Hasn't the two decades of presence of the international community in Afghanistan, human rights institutions, extensive campaigns to eliminate violence against women, women's litigation and advocacy, and the presence of women in society, created a little mercy in the hearts of these anthropomorphic savages? I still can't believe that a few kilometers from the Citadel and a few kilometers from the Ministry of Women's Affairs, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission of the previous regime, such a crime took place under the skin of Kabul. The men whose sister and her parents' daughter, who were all fed by the same mother's milk, locked their defenseless sister in the dirtiest room in the world until her last breath to torture her.

Nikbakht was thrown into a dangerous family prison by her brothers 25 years ago, probably in 1998, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan for the first time. This oppressed and captive woman has now been rescued by the Taliban police after 25 years under the re-rule of the Taliban regime and has seen the light of the sun. I say to myself, with all the problems that exist in the rule of the current rulers, at least this is the benefit of the regime change in Kabul, that a woman like Nikbakht has been saved from the terrible captivity of her brothers after a quarter of a century. No one can even imagine that during 20 years of democracy and human rights, women's rights, this shocking cruelty happened to this oppressed and unfortunate woman.

Therefore, we should not be afraid of the dreaded political prisons, we should be afraid of these family prisons, where oppressive men easily imprison their vulnerable family members and women in such a terrible way and do not stop their hatred and cruelty until the last moment. The Nikbakht savage brothers had many alternative ways to say no to this horrible crime. Can hatred be so dangerous as to destroy his sister's brotherhood in such a cruel way? But committing this crime raises many questions and I wish I had access to these humanoids to ask them the reason for this crime. However, even if they have a reason for their brutality, this act of theirs is considered a crime against humanity and should be punished.

YouTubers supported by the Taliban and the Taliban security administration have the right to widely mediate this crime. Perhaps in the history of mankind, there is no such crime in which a brother has punished his sister in such a terrible way, imprisoned and without a crime. A brother always supports a sister and this cruelty shows how criminal some men can be, not even showing mercy to their sisters and first-class family members.

The brutal crime of the Nikbakht brothers and probably her brothers' wives has been widely reflected in social networks and especially in human rights circles and media. Human rights activists have always talked about widespread violations of women's rights, which actually increased with the change of regime. In fact, the story of Nikbakht is also related to a part of the political history of the Taliban. These people, the Nikbakht brothers, took advantage of the Taliban situation in the nineties and imprisoned Nikbakht during the first period of the regime, and during this time they oppressed her in the worst way to make her miserable. What has happened now and in the real sense, they have destroyed her.

The unfortunate story of a young woman who was subjected to brutal domestic violence in prison is a gross example of the violation of women's rights and human rights that occurs widely in the country and the perpetrators are not prosecuted. In the last ten years, the failure to deal with cases of violence against women has increased the number of similar crimes and violence and the rapid violation of women's rights. In addition, all Afghan women are enslaved by a group and suffer terribly.

Therefore, Nikbakht bravely fought to survive until the last moment. She survived to tell the world that this is how Afghan women are oppressed. She has endured all the pains and sufferings of the dirtiest detention center and prison in the world and has kept herself alive so that she can talk about the social change that has not happened in the Hazara society. Tell the Hazara community if this is the change you see in my story. She surely says with her conscience, it takes a lot of time to bring about a big change in society and a lot of work must be done so that another woman like Nikbakht is not terribly miserable and destroyed.

Unfortunately, I must add that it is not only Nikbakht, who was caught in such a situation because of being a woman and gender hatred. Nikbakht's story is an example of the sad and painful tragedies of Afghan women's society that happen every day on a large scale. Often, such incidents are kept secret by the criminals for various reasons, and the perpetrators are never seriously prosecuted. Even this situation existed during the period of democracy and human rights in the previous regime, and now we cannot even imagine what problems women are facing under the rule of the Taliban.