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| Afghanistan |
| Afghan schoolgirl scarred in acid attack now a teacher |
| 2013-11-02 |
| [Dawn] When attackers threw acid in Shamsia Husseini's face outside her school in Afghanistan, she defied them by returning to class -- and now she has struck another blow for female education by becoming a teacher herself. Shamsia suffered severe burns on her eyelids and cheeks in the November 2008 assault, which generated global publicity, with then US first lady Laura Bush condemning it as a "cowardly and shameful" crime. Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... vowed to hang the men who had attacked Shamsia as she walked to the all-girls' Mirwais Mena school on the outskirts of Kandahar city. But he hasn't, of course... One man, wearing a mask, asked Shamsia if she was going to school. Then he tore off her veil and pumped acid from a spray gun onto her face. Several other pupils were hurt in a series of similar acid attacks that morning, but Shamsia and her friends refused to abandon their lessons and persuaded their reluctant parents to support the school staying open. Five years on, Shamsia, now aged 22, is still in the classroom -- but now she stands in front of an energetic bunch of nine and 10-year-old girls. "The students sometimes play around and it does test my patience," she admitted to AFP with a smile. "But being a teacher is much better than being a student, and I am now studying to become fully qualified." 'The attackers did not win' Shamsia's scars eventually healed well after treatment at hospitals in Kabul and New Delhi, though she has recurring problems with blurred vision and eye pain. "It was very important for me to become a teacher as it shows people that the attackers did not win, just like we came back to school after the attack," she said. "By teaching, I want to show that education is important and that women can do more than work in the kitchen." Shamsia retains the quiet determination she displayed when speaking out over the attack, and she remains furious that her assailants have never been punished. "President Karzai promised to hang these men. If I ever talk to him, I will ask him why he failed to do that," she said. The Taliban, who banned female education when they were in power from 1996-2001, denied any involvement in the acid strikes, and nine suspects jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... after the attack gave questionable confessions and were later released. Shamsia even says that one of her attackers lives close to her home, and that he sees her go to school every day. "He is free, and it is possible it could happen again. There is no justice, he needs to be punished," she said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 There's fatalism, and courage, and balls, and duty. Jeez. This woman..... I wonder how many Afghan men are as high on the Human Scale. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2013-11-02 17:42 |
| #1 "President Karzai promised to hang these men. If I ever talk to him, I will ask him why he failed to do that," she said. ...which is why she shall never meet him. I trust, however, that any words Mr. Karzai would say to her could only diminish himself... |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2013-11-02 00:24 |