A week after the mysterious death of famous Pakistani Social Worker and Human Rights Activist Karima Baloch in Canada, South Asians have lost another Human Rights warrior! Unidentified miscreants gunned down Afghan Women’s Rights Activist and prominent Pro-Democracy Advocate Freshta Kohistani (29) with her brother, in front of their residence in Kabul on December 25. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for these killings. According to sources close to the Government of Afghanistan, the incident took place at 5pm (local time)…

Freshta, who used to reside in village Dahno of Hes-e-Awal in district Kohistan of Kapisa Province, had been active as an activist for long. She was also seen campaigning for Abdullah Abdullah ahead of 2019 Presidential Elections! Apart from being active on the Social Media, she had organised various events in different parts of the war-ravaged country to raise awareness about Women’s Rights. Recently, Freshta mentioned on the Social Media that she was receiving death threats. She also requested the concerned authorities to make security arrangements for her.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs has condemned the killing of Freshta. Senior spokesperson of the Ministry Tariq Aryan has issued a statement, saying that the Government officials are investigating the case. Meanwhile, Abdullah Abdullah, the Afghan politician who leads the High Council for National Reconciliation, has claimed that terrorists shot Freshta dead in order to disturb the ongoing peace process.

The killings of politicians, journalists and social workers have recently risen sharply during Peace Talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban. Unknown gunmen shot and killed Mohammad Yousuf Rasheed in Kabul on December 23. Rasheed he used to run an organisation, which investigated instances of electoral corruption. A day before that, senior journalist Rahmatullah Nekzad was gunned down soon after he left his home in the City of Ghazni for a nearby mosque. He was the fourth journalist who was assassinated in Afghanistan in the last couple of months! In 2020, the militants killed no less than seven persons connected to the media!

There has been a rise in attacks on Human Rights Activists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The only difference between the attacks in these countries is while only militants are targeting the activists in Afghanistan, the Pakistani activists are getting killed by the Government and the Armed Forces! Perhaps, the assailants have forgotten the fact that Democratic Movements cannot be stopped by using forces…

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das