This is Bibi Aisha, with a prosthetic nose, often used by film actors. Look at the image at the end of this post.

And I have nothing else to say.













As written by Lynsey Addario of National Geographic, I quote, “Bibi Aisha was 19 when I met her in Kabul's Women for Afghan Women shelter in November 2009. Her husband beat her from the day she was married, at age 12. When he beat her so badly she thought she might die, she escaped to seek a neighbor's help. To punish her for leaving without permission, her husband, who is a Taliban fighter, took her to a remote spot in the mountains. Several men held her while he cut off her nose, ears, and hair. She screamed—to no avail. "If I had the power, I would kill them all," she told me. I wanted to be strong for Aisha to give her hope she would be fine again. But when she described that moment, I began to cry.”




Are we humans?

Are they humans? They who mercilessly torture their wives and kill their daughters? They who swear to fight the Jihad – Holy War? They who are rigorous believers of the Quran?



“Many Afghan women burn themselves because they believe suicide is the only escape from an abusive marriage, abusive family members, poverty, or the stress of war. If they do survive, women fear being shamed or punished for what they did and may blame a gas explosion when they were cooking.”



After seeing the pic, I asked myself again and again, “How could they?”


It is an inhuman barbaric act of I don’t know what. It is far far beyond anything that can have the slightest connection with humanity. This is unimaginable. But a hard truth.


As a child, I had heard fairy tales about handsome princes rescuing beautiful princesses as they slay monstrous creatures and evil witches by cutting their nose off. I have always smiled on such accounts; happy that the good people win and the evil receive the punishment they deserve. But today, I’ve had to think twice. This act is just so inhuman that even the evilest of the evil don’t deserve such a punishment.


“How could they?”

 There is no answer.


Tribalism, Poverty, and War.


What wrong had she ever done to deserve such a penalty? What mistake had she done in her past life? What bad thoughts had she entertained? Which crime calls for such an inconceivable punishment?

I try my best not be too cynical all the time. But then again, this world often likes to contradict me. I’ll end with a common thought…



“If ever there was a God who existed, he must have left this earth a long time back.”





This post was for Theme Thursday.