Carol’s Column

The PAGAD March

Last week, I was in Cape Town when 7000 people marched to the United States consul to protest against America bombing Afghanistan.

The march was led by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Western Cape Council of Churches (WCCC).

I strongly defend the right of everyone to protest against what they believe to be wrong or unjust.

By their dress, it seemed the majority of marchers were Muslims. I also noticed there were quite a few women marching. Many held up signs stating what they believed such as ‘Muslim hands say stop the bombings’.

Several others held, in my opinion, less reasonable, more provocative signs such as ‘Viva Bin Laden’.

When I saw those, and I saw young men sporting T-shirts with the face of Bin Laden, I felt sick. When I saw notices acclaiming the Taliban in Afghanistan, I also felt sick.

How could anyone support a person who heads a militant group (al-Qaeda) that has wreaked such abominable terror throughout the world, on innocent people in America, Africa and Middle East? Somebody who glories in killing?

Did these marching people wearing these shirts, carrying slogans and shouting “Viva Bin Laden” and “We support the Taliban”, believe they were protesting for the good?

Surely, it stands to reason that if you protest against something you perceive as evil, you wish to replace it with something better?

The sight of the women marching, also intrigued me. I wondered if they knew for what they were marching? For the US to stop bombing Afghanistan? I understand. To support the Taliban and Bin Laden? I cannot.

I wonder if those who want to stand side by side with the Taliban, understand the nature of the Taliban?

I would suggest they look at a website: www.rawa.org for an authoritative picture of exactly what it is they think they support.

This website is one of the most courageous in the world, created by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (rawa). These women are the ordinary mothers and daughters of Afghanistan, many of whom have been tortured and killed for their beliefs.

That this website exists at all is due to their immense fortitude. The material, and especially the pictures, speak for themselves. They have been taken by women through the gauze of their burqas. If caught, they will die.

On www.rawa.org you observe life in Afghanistan under the Taliban. You see men, young and old, hanged from trees because they infringed the Taliban's rigid “rules”. A boy with a wispy beard, hangs upside down by his feet. His crime? To watch a video in his home behind a closed door.

You see bodies of the executed, rotting in the streets.

You see the massacre of the people of Yekawlang, in central Afghanistan, where over 300 were murdered by the Taliban. Their crime? They belonged to a Shiite Muslim sect.

You see pictures of Taliban men beating a woman who allegedly dared to remove her burqa.

And, most horribly, you see a woman being executed, shot point blank in the head. Her crime? She infringed Taliban “rules”. You also see smiling young Taliban men triumphantly carrying the amputated hands and feet of Afghanistanis accused and found guilty without trial, of stealing.

What you see on this website is the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Explicit, cruel and barbaric. The Taliban says they act in the name of God.

There can be no doubt, they and their actions, are an offence to God. I cannot believe that any true Muslim can support such a regime.

■