New Delhi: Indian author Sushmita Banerjee, 49, whose book about her escape from the Taliban was made into a Bollywood film, was shot dead by militants outside her home in Paktika province of Afghanistan, police said. Banerjee was married to Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan and had recently moved back to Afghanistan to live with him.Banerjee’s killing was the latest in a string of attacks on prominent women in Afghanistan, adding to fears women’s rights in a country, where many are barely allowed outside the house, will face setbacks after US-led foreign forces fully withdraw in 2014.
Eighteen years after militant leaders sentenced her to death after she refused to wear a burqa in public, the attackers on Thursday dragged the 49-year-old Banerjee outside her home, took her to Al Jihad madrasa in Sarrai Kala village and was shot 25 times, reported the New York Times. Dawlat Khan Zadran, the provincial police chief in Paktika, however, denied knowing the reason behind her killing. The Taliban have, however, have denied responsibility for her death. Notably, they are often reluctant to own up women’s killing.
In an interview, Banerjee, also known as Sayed Kamala, had described trying to flee Afghanistan multiple times to get away from the Taliban, and how she was ordered executed as a result of her attempts. She made it back to Kolkata in August 1995. Banerjee had recently moved back to Afghanistan to live with her husband. Her book “A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife” was published in 1997, about nine years after she got married. It later became the basis for the 2003 film “Escape from Taliban”, which starred Manisha Koirala.
According to summaries of the book online, Banerjee moved to Afghanistan as Jaanbaz’s second wife, only to find that life would become unbearable with the Taliban increasing their hold over the country. She lived in Daygan Sorqala village, and was well-known as a medical worker in the area, with special training in gynecology. The Taliban militia, during its rule, had placed severe restrictions on women. It forced them to wear all-encompassing burqas, banned them from working and prohibited girls from attending schools. The Islamist rulers’ harsh interpretation of their religion meant many women could not get proper medical care because the only physicians available were men who in most hospitals were allowed to examine women only if they were fully clothed.
Bureau Report
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