Native name مینا کشور کمال Role Activist Nationality Afghan | Ethnicity Pashtun Name Meena Kamal | |
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People also search for Faiz Ahmad, Abdul Raziq Bugti, Abdul Ahad Karzai, Safdar Kiyani, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai | ||
In Memory of MEENA (1956-1987)
Meena Keshwar Kamal (Pashto/Persian: مینا کشور کمال; February 27, 1956 – February 4, 1987), commonly known as Meena, was an Afghan revolutionary political activist, Feminist, Women's rights activist and founder of Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), who was assassinated in 1987.
Contents
- In Memory of MEENA 1956 1987
- Meena Keshwar Kamal al Decimo Congresso del Partito Socialista Francese
- Biography
- Personal life
- Assassination
- Legacy
- References
Meena Keshwar Kamal al Decimo Congresso del Partito Socialista Francese
Biography
In 1977, when she was a student at Kabul University, she founded Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), an organization formed to promote equality and education for women and continues to "give voice to the deprived and silenced women of Afghanistan". Even after the Saur Revolution there was no vast changes of women's deprivation in Afganistan. In 1979 she campaigned against DRA, and organized meetings in schools to mobilize support against it, and in 1981, she launched a bilingual feminist magazine, Payam-e-Zan (Women's Message). She also founded Watan Schools to aid refugee children and their mothers, offering both hospitalization and the teaching of practical skills.
At the end of 1981, by invitation of the French Government Meena represented the Afghan resistance movement at the French Socialist Party Congress. The Soviet delegation at the Congress, headed by Boris Ponamaryev, left the hall as participants cheered when Meena started waving a victory sign.
Personal life
Kamal was married to Afghanistan Liberation Organization leader Faiz Ahmad, who was murdered by agents of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar on November 12, 1986. They had three children, whose whereabouts are unknown.
Assassination
Kamal was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan on February 4, 1987. Reports vary as to who the assassins were, but are believed to have been agents of the Afghan Intelligence Service KHAD, the Afghan secret police, or of fundamentalist Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Legacy
In a special issue of the Time Magazine on November 13, 2006, included Meena among "60 Asian Heroes" and wrote that "Although she was only 30 when she died, Meena had already planted the seeds of an Afghan women's rights movement based on the power of knowledge."
RAWA says of her "Meena gave 12 years of her short but brilliant life to struggle for her homeland and her people. She had a strong belief that despite the darkness of illiteracy, ignorance of fundamentalism, and corruption and decadence of sell outs imposed on our women under the name of freedom and equality, finally that half of population will be awaken and cross the path towards freedom, democracy and women's rights. The enemy was rightly shivering with fear by the love and respect that Meena was creating within the hearts of our people. They knew that within the fire of her fights all the enemies of freedom, democracy and women would be turned to ashes."
An enduring quote from Meena states: