The brutal incident that happened to the 23 year old paramedical student and her friend shocked the entire nation called India. For a few days from Sunday to Wednesday the Indian media clamored about the need for stringent laws to ensure safety for women and speed up the justice process for the victim! But it fizzled out in a few days.

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Be it going to school, playing with friends or listening to stories from your grandparents- all these memories of childhood bring a profound feeling of happiness. But everyone is not fortunate enough. For hundreds of girls throughout the world childhood comes to an end sooner than it should.

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The hardest thing for a mother is to lose her child. The pain caused is much greater than that caused by childbirth. Savita Halappanavar was brave enough to accept that she was losing her baby. 31-year-old Savita, a dentist by profession, went to a hospital in Ireland complaining of back pain. After being told that she was miscarrying, she sought medical termination of her pregnancy.

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I was once talking to an Afghan man about living in Europe and America, about the advantages and disadvantages. Very unexpectedly, he said something which surprised me. He said, “I would never choose to live in a foreign country together with my wife because I’d lose all control over her.”

Marina Zaffari talks about her search for her identity as a woman and a wife in Afghanistan.

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Crisis and conflict in Afghanistan often overshadows the innumerable achievements of men and women, who are striving to promote art and culture in their country. Until some time back, girls were not allowed to pick up a pen and write a single word, but now they hold painting brushes and use their imagination to express their feelings.

Marina Zaffari profiles some promising women artists from her country.

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When you interview university students in Afghanistan, you can hardly find anyone who denies sexual harassment in the universities there. Professors teaching at the university are largely responsible for this abuse. You could get full marks or no marks in your exams; it simply depends on how you behave with them. Beautiful and stylish young girls are easy prey.

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Marina Zaffari is a well-known face in Afghan television. Like any other intelligent woman, Zaffari was fed up of seeing the typical ‘pretty’ presenter in a political talk show, nodding at her male colleagues and saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as the situation demanded.  She opted for a different track.

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