Afghanistan: Farkhunda's Death Prompts Self-Reflection

The tragedy this March in which a woman called Farkhunda was beaten to death by a Kabul mob after being falsely accused of burning a Koran was roundly condemned by participants in recent discussion events that took place in four Afghan provinces.

“Farkhunda’s death in Kabul was caused by naïve, emotional behaviour. Gullible people killed an innocent girl because someone made an unfounded allegation,” said Hajji Mohammad Ali, head of the human rights department at police headquarters in the eastern Kunar province.

At IWPR-run debates held in Kandahar, Paktika and Ghazni provinces as well as Kunar, some said better education might foster a culture of calmer, more informed responses to controversial issues.

Also in Kunar, writer and civil society activist Shoaib Gharwal said Afghans were known for being far too easily swayed by anger in the heat of the moment.

“Trusting in things is a serious matter in Afghanistan,” Gharwal said. “Afghans react emotionally to every incident, and this emotion has cost us dear.”

In the Khwaja Umari district of Ghazni province, local education head Nur Ahmad Khateryar said that people should not allow themselves to be so easily influenced by others and then act without thinking.

“Acting impulsively means we cannot tell what the consequences of our actions might be,” he said. “We lay ourselves open to unpleasant outcomes."

Civil society activist Abbas Niazi added, “God gave us a brain and the ability to think, so why should we accept everything blindly and follow others? Why can we not realise that being too trusting just allows other people to exploit us?”

In the southern Paktika province, Shazia Sediqi, the head of the women’s affairs department there, said gender violence was common as an irrational response to trivial matters.

“Most of the cases of violence against women that are reported to the women’s affairs in Paktika come about because of ignorance, unfounded suspicion, and excessive emotion,” she said.

Many speakers blamed low educational standards for what civil society activist Gulzada Hamidi called “innocence and ignorance” that could have fatal outcomes.

“I can safely say that the 30-year catastrophe [of war] in our country is the result of gullibility and low levels of education,” added Saifurrahman Shahab, a writer and journalist from Paktika.

Asked what could be done to counter this, he said, “The government should run public awareness programmes through the media to make people better informed about social affairs, Islam and the constitution – and act accordingly.”

The head of the government department for religious affairs in Paktika, Qazi Zabtullah, said the Muslim faith encouraged people to think about the possible consequences of their actions.

“Islam stresses the importance of consideration and thought in every activity, and any action should only be carried out after deliberation,” he said.

This report is based on an ongoing series of debates conducted as part of IWPR’s Afghan Youth and Elections programme.