ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Malalai Joya, an elected representative of Farah province in the Afghan Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly), who won the International Woman of the Year award last month , has asked President Hamid Karzai to put an end to his unending compromises and oust all the criminals and warlords from his cabinet so that people could see dawn of democracy after decades of war.
In an interview with Dawn here, Ms Joya, who was given the award by Region of Valle d'Aosta, Northern Italy, on December 3, highlighted the ongoing human and women rights violation in Afghanistan and urged Mr Karzai not to bow to the demands of the warlords "whose hands are still stained with the blood of innocent Afghans".
The life of the 25-year-old Joya, who runs an orphanage and health clinic, is in danger as she is being hounded by the most powerful warlords and drug-traffickers who call her a prostitute, a communist and an infidel - these epithets are enough to invite extremists to take the law in their hands.
She on December 17, 2003, openly opposed the presence of warlords in the Loya Jirga and asked Mr Karzai and the international community to try them in the international courts for their crimes against humanity, killing of women and involvement in drug and arms smuggling and now in land-grabbing.
KARZAI'S COMPROMISES: Ms Joya said she foresaw a very bleak picture of Afghanistan's future because Mr Karzai still relied on criminals to save his government and life.
"The people voted for Karzai in the hope that he would oust these criminals from the echelons of power and would rid them of undemocratic elements. Not only the people, but even the walls, the houses and the mountains recognize them as enemies of humanity," she said.
US ATTENTION: After attacking Iraq, the US seemed less interested to fulfil the promises it had made to the Afghan nation: reconstruction, democracy and ensuring women's rights by bringing to justice all those who were involved in the destruction of the country after the former Soviet Union left, she said.
WOMEN'S SUFFERINGS: "Women are still subjected to rape and violence if they speak against the warlords. Women are still committing suicides as protest against the cruelties of the warlords and their cronies. Karzai should listen to their cries otherwise, the future generations would never forgive him," she said.
The women, she said, were still as vulnerable as they were during Taliban regime because their problem was never "Burqa", but security.
When asked whether Mr Karzai would be able to sideline warlords at a time when the country was in transition to democracy from anarchy and with former Taliban elements still making sporadic attacks on the interests of the US-backed government, she said: "People have reposed their trust in Karzai and, if he wants he can do it.
The international coalition army is there to support him. The international community is there to back him. Then, the question is why is he still reluctant to proceed against them."
OPIUM: Afghanistan, she said, was still the largest producer of opium in the world as the warlords were still involved in drug-smuggling under the very nose of the government because the writ of US forces was only limited to Kabul.
NGOS: Ms Joya also wants accountability of all the local and international NGOs working in the country. Majority of NGOs, she said, were wasting millions of dollars in the name of participating in the reconstruction process of the country that should be checked immediately.
THREATS: Since her anti-warlords speech in Loya Jirga, she said, she had been receiving threats of suicide attacks against her family. Her orphanage has been attacked once and her bodyguards are still receiving threats. But she has refused to keep quiet. The Karzai government has given her three AK-47 assault rifles for protection, and a cousin now acts as her bodyguard.
She warned that the international community and Mr Karzai must act quickly before war lordism was institutionalized whose presence, she said, was tantamount to reverting to bloodshed and the law of jungle.
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