Former Afghanistan MP Mursal Nabizada, a critic of Taliban, has been shot dead in Kabul
Former Afghanistan woman MP Mursal Nabizada was shot dead by unknown assailants at her Kabul home on January 14. Photo: Facebook
Condition of women in Afghanistan continues to get worse with each passing day. In the latest, former Afghanistan woman MP Mursal Nabizada was shot dead at her home along with her bodyguard on Saturday (January 14) by unknown assailants, the BBC reported. At the time of incident, her brother and a second bodyguard were also injured while the third bodyguard is reported to have fled with money and jewelry from the house.
It is also the first time, that an MP from the previous administration has been killed in the city since the takeover by Taliban.
Nabizada, 32, was one of the women who stayed back after the Hamid Karzai-led government was toppled by the Taliban in August 2021. A strong women, Nabizada was quite vocal about her views and also her stance against the Taliban.
She represented the eastern province of Nangarhar and was elected in 2018 when the United States-backed democratic government was in place in Afghanistan.
Former lawmaker expresses condolences: Mariam Solaimankhil, former lawmaker of Afghanistan, said that Nabizada was a very strong woman who stood for what she believed in. " Despite being offered the chance to leave Afghanistan, she chose to stay and fight for her people. We have lost a diamond but her legacy will live on. Rest in Peace," Solaimankhil wrote on Twitter.
A true trailblazer - a strong, outspoken woman who stood for what she believed in, even in the face of danger. Despite being offered the chance to leave Afghanistan, she chose to stay and fight for her people. We have lost a diamond, but her legacy will live on. Rest in peace. https://t.co/g0HjMPicl5
— Mariam Solaimankhil (@Mariamistan) January 15, 2023
- Hannah Neumann, a member of European Union also paid her condolences on the death of Nabizada. She said: "I am sad and angry and want the world to know! She was killed in darkness, but the Taliban build their system of Gender Apartheid in full daylight."
🖤 Mursal Nabizada, woman parliamentarian in #Afghanistan, was brutally killed alongside her bodyguard in her home, in #Kabul.
— Hannah Neumann (@HNeumannMEP) January 15, 2023
I am sad and angry and want the world to know! She was killed in darkness, but the #Taleban build their system of Gender Apartheid in full daylight. pic.twitter.com/7bCPYQpUZs
- Abdullah Abdullah, who was a top official in Afghanistan's former western government said that he was saddened by Nabizada's death, and hoped that the guilty would be punished.
What the Afghan authorities are saying: The local police chief Molvi Hamidullah Khalid said that Nabizada and her guard were shot dead at about 3 am, while her brother and a second security guard were injured. A third security guard ran away from the house with money and jewelry, The Guardian reported.
- Khalid said that Nabizada was killed on the first floor of her house, which she used as her office.
- The police also said that the investigation in the murder was underway and did not disclose any possible motives behind her murder.
- Nabizada was a member of parliamentary defence commission and worked at a private non-governmental group, the Institute of Human Resources Development and Research.
Women continue to perish in Afghanistan: The Nabizada incident just adds on to the extent of turbulence the Afghan women have been going through for the past one-and-a-half years since the Taliban took over. Last month, the Taliban government banned the university education for women all over the country.
- Earlier, the regime had ordered the education of girls by women teachers or retired male teachers of good character. But a sudden shift in decision left the women heart-broken.
- This was the penultimate ban on the rights of women in the country as the regime has removed Afghan women from all spheres of public life.
- Not only education, women have also not been allowed to work in offices with their male counterparts. They also can't travel alone on long journeys, plus they also cannot visit the parks on specific days when men visit the parks.