Afghans Join Together to Protest over Killing

Over 3000 Afghans, both men and women, have marched through Kabul, demanding justice for a woman who was beaten to death by a mob a week ago after being falsely accused of burning a Quran.

Farkhunda, a 27-year-old religious scholar, was beaten, run over with a car and burned before her body was thrown into the Kabul River. The attack appears to started with a dispute between Farkhunda, who had just finished a degree in religious studies and was preparing to take a teaching post, and men who sold amulets at Kabul’s famous Shah-Do Shamshera shrine.

According to her father, Farkhunda urged women not to waste their money on the amulets, and the men responded by making false accusations that she had torched a Quran, which set off the brutal assault.

According to Amrullah Saleh, a political leader and former director of the intelligence service, the demonstrators in Kabul sought to make Farkhunda a symbol of the struggle against “injustice, mob court, street violence, violence against women, lawlessness, extremism” and, especially the injustice suffered by women.

“She is an example of probably what has happened silently to many. She drew a line with her blood between those who want justice, rule of law, and those who are extreme in their views and who breed in lawlessness”

Despite constitutional guarantees of equality and protection from violence, women in Afghanistan are still widely subject to violence, both privately and publicly.

• Pray for Afghanistan, where a generation of young adults have known nothing but war and conflict. Pray they will come to know peace in their hearts, and on the streets, through relationship with the Prince of Peace.
• Pray for women in Afghanistan, for protection, and to be seen as people of value in their culture. Pray for a change in attitude in those who continue to deem women as worthless.
• Pray for the Afghan government, for wisdom and integrity as it seeks to find its way forward in this hurting nation.

Luke 12 vs 6 – 7: “ Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.  But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com