Tag: Taliban

Pakistan: Terror Attack by Taliban on Minority Shiite Muslim Mosque Kills 8, Wounds 17

On January 9, 2015, in Pakistan’s Punjab’s Rawalpindi area, a terrorist attack by a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) against Shia minority Muslims has left eight people killed and 17 injured. The attack was in the Chitian Hatian area at a Shia Imambargah mosque and worship hall. The attack happened when a Taliban suicide bomber was unable to enter the Shia house of worship at around 9:20 PM local time. The terrorist attack happened during a Shia religious service.

Pakistan: A Shia Muslim mourns over the death of his family member at the site of a blast in Rawalpindi on January 9, 2015 (Source: AP)

Pakistan’s Geo TV reports that “[e]yewitnesses said the explosion that took place outside the Imambargah was so intense that windowpanes of nearby buildings were shattered,” and that “[t]he injured were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital where some of them were in critical condition.” The Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction of Taliban took credit for the terrorist attack on the minority Shiite Muslims. The Pakistan News reported that Ehsanullah Ehsan, the spokesman of the Taliban’s Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction, stated in an email “We claim responsibility of the attack on the Imambargah and vow to continue such attacks against enemies of Islam.”

Pakistan: Police officer and local residents gather next to a damaged motorcycle at the site of a blast in Rawalpindi on January 9, 2015 (Source: AP)

Dawn also reported that “[a] bomb targeting Shias at a volleyball match killed at least five people and injured 10 in Pakistan’s restive northwest last Sunday.” The January 4 terrorist attack against Shiites by the Taliban was an attack on a child’s playground in Orakzai.

The Taliban has continued a war against religious minorities in Pakistan and other Muslim religions, as part of its rejection of our universal human rights for all people of all religions and all identity groups. Such terrorist hate and violence will target any individuals and deny their human rights of anyone in humanity.

This is continuing terrorist war by the Taliban against the people of the world and an attack on the universal human rights, including terrorist attacks and murders against other Muslims.

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) calls for the support of our Universal Human Rights for all people around the world, and a rejection of this violence and hatred.

R.E.A.L. Rejects Taliban’s Crimes Against Humanity, Calls for ICC to Act

The Taliban’s barbarous mass murder of children in Peshawar today should be condemned by all people of all faiths, nationalities, and political views. The Taliban’s continued practice of mass murder of children and targeted killings of children is nothing less than crimes against humanity. There is no rationale, no justification, and no defense for such crimes against humanity by the Taliban.

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) continues to stand by our position in unequivocal support for our universal human rights for all people, including the right to life and safety. The actions of the Taliban in this mass murder of children demonstrates their rejection of all human rights, and their choice to be enemies of humanity itself. For many years, R.E.A.L. has protested the Taliban’s actions, their ideology, and those misguided state leaders who believe that they can “negotiate” with those criminals who deliberately and consciously murder children, women, and other innocent people.

We call upon ALL people, all human rights leaders, and all world leaders to condemn their actions and the Taliban’s anti-human rights ideology without qualification.

We also call upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) to act upon Article 7 to bring international criminal charges against these Taliban leaders and these Taliban murderers, based on their systemic crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, extermination, and other inhumane acts.

These crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, “are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of human beings.” This mass murder in Peshawar is another in a series of systemic crimes against humanity by this Taliban terrorist organization, which has too frequently received state protection with the unwillingness of nations of the world to take criminal action against the Taliban.

Therefore, we call upon the ICC to bring charges of crimes against humanity against the Taliban, their leaders, and their members.

Pakistan states that it has supported the aims of the International Court and voted for the Rome Statute in 1998. Afghanistan acceded the Rome Statute on February 10, 2003. R.E.A.L. calls upon the ICC to act upon the criminal Taliban organization to protect humanity from their continuing crimes against humanity.

Afghanistan: Public Murder of Woman by Taliban

In Afghanistan,  the Taliban have reportedly publicly murdered a 22-year old woman Najiba, who was gunned down in the streets while in her burqua.  Media reported that the woman was surrounded by 100 Taliban men who cheered when the helpless woman was gunned down in the street.

This is yet another disgrace against women’s human rights and dignity, with this latest atrocity by the Taliban committed on June 23 village of Qimchaq (Qimchok), in Parwan province’s Shinwari district in Eastern Afghanistan, just an hour’s drive from the Afghanistan capital of Kabul.

In the video, the Taliban extremists can be heard chanting “Allahu Ahkbar,” (God is Great) during the shooting, as also reported by CNN.  Their actions and words disgrace peaceful Muslims respecting human rights around the world.

Afghanistan Woman Najiba Publicly Murdered by Taliban in Qimchaq Village - A Disgrace to Human Rights and Dignity Everywhere

The Los Angeles Times reported that a video of the Taliban murder showed “a woman in a white shawl kneeling in the dirt. Crouching in terror, she could not speak even a word in her own defense. She then crumples after apparently being shot dead at close range by a gunman before a crowd of more than 100 shouting men arrayed on a dusty terraced hillside.”

CNN reported that the defenseless woman was shot more than 9 times by the cowardly Taliban murderers.   CNN also reported that the woman was murdered because of dispute over her between two rival Taliban gang leaders.   CNN reported that after the Taliban murder, the killers concocted a story of crimes of “adultery” to rationalize their public murder.  In the CNN report, the Parwan province governor Abdul Basir Salangi was quoted:  “In order to save face,” they accused her of adultery, Salangi said. Then they “faked a court to decide about the fate of this woman and in one hour, they executed the woman..”

This is another in the many instances of the World War on Women.   In this case, the oppressors of women are the Taliban extremists and their ideological acceptance of hate and violence to rationalize their actions.  The Taliban have a long history of their organized and institutional War on Women. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges all Afghan people, all Muslim believers, and all human beings around the world to renounce the cruel and violent ideology and activity of the Taliban.

The amateur video was loaded onto YouTube.  It is, and photos of such abuse, are disturbing and revolting to all decent human beings.  But for those who think the Taliban is simply a different cultural group, it is important for them to see the abuses that the Taliban perform:

R.E.A.L. has reported many times on the human rights abuses and criminal violence of the Taliban – especially its violence and oppression against women:
— Afghanistan: Pregnant Woman Whipped, Murdered by Taliban
— Afghan women live in fear
— Afghanistan: Taliban Stone Young Couple to Death
— Afghanistan: Aid Workers Murdered – Taliban Claims Responsibility

In addition, R.E.A.L. continues to caution the American government, its leaders, and other world leaders regarding the fallacy of negotiations with a Taliban organization that rejects and renounces our Universal Human Rights for all people, and that has continued a ceaseless campaign of deliberate and methodical violence and terrorism against fellow Afghani citizens, Muslims, and other fellow human beings.  This is a women’s rights issue and a human rights issue.

R.E.A.L.' s Jeffrey Imm Outside White House in Washington DC Protesting Calls for Taliban Reconciliation, Concern for Impact on Women's Rights

R.E.A.L. will continue to protest any support or negotiations with Taliban war criminals who seek to regain power in Afghanistan and to further return Afghanistan to a nation of fear and oppression for women, children, and all of Afghanistan’s citizens.

President Obama: Afghanistan Women's Rights Matter

We urge members of the Taliban to renounce their ways, renounce their ideology of hate and violence, and to accept Universal Human Rights and Dignity for all people.

We urge the Taliban to Choose Love, Not Hate.