மருத்துவர்களைக் குண்டு வைத்துக் கொன்ற (அமைதி மார்க்க) தாலிபான் மிருகங்கள்

இதுதான் அமைதி மார்க்கத்தின் பகுத்தறிவு. மருத்துவர்களைக் கொல்வதுதான் அவர்களுக்குத் தெரிந்த அமைதி மார்க்கம், அன்பு வழி. அமைதி மார்க்கத்தில் உலகத்துக்கான அனைத்து அறிவியலும் இருக்கிறது என்று சொல்லும் விசித்திரப் பிறவிகள் நம் நாட்டிலும் உண்டு. அதனால்தான் ஒரு பக்கம் மருத்துவர்களை வரவேற்கிறோம், ஆனால் நாங்கள் சொல்வதுபடித்தான் மருத்துவம் செய்ய வேண்டும் என்று கட்டளை. அவ்வளவு மேதாவிகள் என்றால் எதற்கு வெளியில் இருந்து மருத்துவர்கள்? நீங்களே சிகிச்சை செய்வதுதானே?
இந்தக் கயவர்கள் அட்டகாசம் செய்யும் ஊர்களில் உள்ள மக்கள் எத்தனை துரதிருஷ்டசாலிகள்! இவர்களை அடக்க முடியாத அரசு ஒரு அரசா? அதற்கு என்ன அரசாங்கம், தலை நகரம், பெரிய தேர்தல் எல்லாம்.
அறிவு ஒளியே இல்லாத தலை கொண்ட இந்த மதவாதிகளையும், பிறருடைய வாழ்வைப் பறிக்க எந்தத் தயக்கமும் இல்லாத கொலைகாரர்களையும், வன்முறையைப் பிறர் மீது திணிக்கக் கூசாத இவர்களைப் போன்ற வனமிருகங்களையும் ஒழித்துக்கட்டும் நாள் என்று வருமோ?
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DEATH FOR BIRTH CONTROL
In Kandahar, handing out condoms can be fatal
Tom Blackwell, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, November 03, 2008

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban had warned her repeatedly, but the veteran public-health worker insisted on carrying on work as usual at her clinic in rural Kandahar.

The midwife's defiance would prove fatal: Two months ago, the insurgents shot her dead.

What had enraged the Islamist rebels, however, was a surprising issue, more often debated in the West than Afghanistan. As part of a fledgling family planning program, the worker known only as Zarghona was distributing condoms and birth-control pills, and the insurgents called that sacrilege.
A Taliban letter orders a health clinic in Kandahar not to let male doctors examine female patients.
A Taliban letter orders a health clinic in Kandahar not to let male doctors examine female patients.

"We took up arms against the Infidels in order to bring Islamic law to this land," said a chilling letter delivered later to her employer, bearing the seal of the Taliban military council.

"But you people are supporting our enemies, the enemies of Islam and Muslims . . . Personnel were trained to distribute family planning pills. The aim of this project is to persuade the young girls to commit adultery."

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Canwest News Service, noted the insurgents had warned the midwife to stop distributing contraceptives "but she paid no heed, so we killed her."

The Taliban's rejection of artificial birth control - a cause it incongruously shares with the Catholic Church and the Protestant Christian right - is not the only threat the nascent medical system faces in rural Kandahar.

The World Health Organization says the health of Afghan women and children is among the worst in the world. Yet, threatening letters and assassinations by the insurgents, kidnappings and ordinary theft have forced clinics to close and left health-care staff in a constant state of fear, says Dr. Fazal Rahman, head of the Afghan Health and Development Service. The NGO runs several clinics in Kandahar, where Canada is the lead NATO power.

Just last month, two doctors running the WHO's polio vaccination program were killed by a suicide bomber in the province's south.

"It is terrible and difficult for us to find staff here," said Rahman in his Kandahar City office. "When our personnel go down to (volatile) areas, they are worried and panicked until they get back. Every minute, every day, they are worried."

Some of the violence perpetrated against the clinics may be the work of common criminals, though they often claim to be Taliban, he said.

The warnings about family planning are clearly coming from the insurgents, however.

Yet, the program - offered to married couples - has helped curb the huge problem here of low birth-weight babies, since fewer children in a family means fewer mouths to feed and better nutrition for everyone. Family planning also aids women who are too weak or sick themselves to go through pregnancy, said Rahman.

He argues that Islam allows a woman to avoid or delay pregnancy if it would be harmful to her. "Right now, the people are coming willingly to use the stuff."

Dr. Rahmatullah Kamwak, head of the World Health Organization office in Kandahar, is not so sure about the program's popularity. He agreed that family planning is an important public-health tool, but said many people in Afghanistan's ultra-conservative south need convincing.

"There is another side to the issue, too," said Kamwak. "Is this acceptable to the community?"

He said he it would be a positive step, though, if even 10 per cent of the Kandahar population got access to birth control.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said the insurgents are not against health facilities, as long as they obey Islamic law.

"If they are here to treat the poor people, we welcome them and support them," he said in an interview. "If they are here for other reasons, we will ban them. For example, if they distribute medicines which postpone pregnancy, that actually brings negative impact on Islamic society."

Ahmadi said the insurgents will issue three warnings before taking action against a health worker who disobeys the edicts.

The Taliban have also fired off threatening letters recently telling the clinics that they cannot allow male doctors to examine female patients, though often women health workers are simply not available, said Rahman.

The clinics do get female guards to interview women patients and pass on the information to the male physician, but that does not seem to satisfy the insurgents, he said.

The Taliban letter about the midwife's murder also addresses the male-doctor issue, and concludes by warning "your activities are under close monitoring. If you do not pay heed, you will be punished."

Meanwhile, the insurgents have also added to the challenges faced by the polio-vaccination program in southern Afghanistan, said Dr. Karim Asseir, WHO manager of the program here.

Implementation teams made up of local residents have been negotiating with the insurgents to win their approval, often with success. The Islamists, though, are increasingly raising objections to what they consider, inaccurately, to be a program of the hated Karzai government, said Asseir.

On Sept. 14, he watched, horrified, as a white Toyota Corolla swerved into the car ahead of him on an official trip to south Kandahar. The suicide bomber blew up, killing the two polio doctors inside the other vehicle.

"What the anti-government elements are trying to do," Asseir said, "is to be recognized as the people who are in control of these areas."


© National Post 2008