KABUL - Some 200 women staged a rally in Kabul on Thursday to denounce violence against females, including the murder of three women workers in northern Afghanistan.
"We want the government to bring to justice those responsible for the innocent deaths of our sisters in Baghlan and Badakhshan provinces," female activist, Soraya Parlika, said.
"This is a political sabotage," she said, blaming warlords for violence aimed at intimidating women ahead of parliamentary elections in September.
Three women employed at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, a microcredit organisation, were stoned to death in Baghlan province last week.
Their bodies were found on Sunday with an alleged letter from the radical Hezb-e-Islami group of former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a security official said requesting anonymity. Hekmatyar is on the US most wanted terror list.
Organizers claimed the protesters represented 26 groups speaking for women rights in Afghanistan.
"This is the first elected government of Afghanistan and we want the government to stop violence against women," said Orzala Ashraf who works with the Afghan independent human rights commission.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Thursday said it was following very closely the ongoing investigation into the murder of the women in Baghlan.
"In context where violence against women remains too often un-prosecuted and unpunished, it is particularly important that the authorities spare no effort to bring swiftly the perpetrators of the this crime to justice," a UN statement said.
05/05/2005 17:48 GMT