a letter to president

My name is Sanjar Qiam, 26 years old Afghan citizen; I intended to marry Sofya Panova, 24 years old, Russian Federation citizen in Afghanistan. Afghanistan laws or at least officials and religion don’t allow our marriage. “Among all religions only a Jewish or Christian girl can marry a Muslim man, only if she converts to Islam” said a judge of sixth district court. “The first step to your marriage is Sofya conversion into Islam by chief justice and then processing your marriage documents” said secretariat of Supreme Court. This is unfair and against Universal declaration of human rights, article 16th of the declaration states: ‘Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family’
Sofya converted to Islam and we got married. Now, we are trying to get our marriage documents authenticated, making it a valid document internationally, so Sofya’s visa problem would be resolved in Afghanistan, similarly for me in Russia. Sofya has a three month visa and she has spent almost 85 days in Afghanistan. Our marriage certificate is issued in the office of Ayatollah Moahqqiq Kabuli. The Russian embassy in Kabul asked us to get our document authenticated by ministry of foreign affairs.

Marriage Certificate Authentication:

The purpose of the authentication process is to establish a chain of authentication with respect to the signatures and stamp on the document. The stamps and signatures on our marriage certificate are not recognizable for Russian Embassy. In the normal course of affairs, only signatures known to the Russian embassy will be accepted. Generally speaking, the signatures are those of competent officials of Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Authentication is a formality by which Afghanistan consular agent certify the authenticity of the signature on our marriage certificate. by authenticating the marriage certificate, Afghan Authorities verifies that the signature which appears on the document is the true signature of who it purports to be. Authentication doesn’t mean that Afghan ministry of foreign affairs approve the content of marriage certificate.
'The Hague Convention (Apostilleverdrag, August - 1962) abolished the Requirements of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, in this case being marriage certificate. The simple formality which has replaced legalisation is the addition of a certificate, or 'apostille. This means that an Apostille is needed from ministry of foreign affairs to accompany our marriage certificate.

Since neither Russia nor Afghanistan is signatory to all legalization conventions, it is necessary for our marriage certificate to be legalised by a number of bodies, resulting in a long series of signatures, so that the embassy in Kabul can legalise a signature he is familiar with. The same process has to be conversely followed in Russia in order to use it for visa or any other purpose.

Afghan ministry of foreign affairs refused to authenticate or Apostille our marriage certificate. “Ministry of foreign affair only approves (Taheed) document with legal grounding. We can’t just approve anyone” said Mohammad Dawod Panjshiri head of consular department at ministry of foreign affairs.

To summarize I think there is a great gap what the law and requirements of the law, and the knowledge, attitude and behavior of those who implement it.
Farida (whose last name I didn’t get), head of legal affairs department at the ministry of women affairs said “I understand you have a marriage document and it should only be authenticated. It could only be authenticated if you follow the procedure, you can’t change the system ... what is your point?” When I was telling Dawod Panjshiri at the ministry of foreign affairs, what I thought authentication should be, he said “you are a grown up, you are a journalist, please try to understand”

Marriage is a law; an ambiguous law

while I was trying to figure out the account of authentication/ Apostille, in the offices of ministry of foreign affairs and other ministries I realized there wasn’t a good understanding of it, the word legalization, authentication, notarization, certification, validation were used interchangeably. This is where my curiosity aroused, why not to have a clear legal terminology. But I found the answer for it on Monday. Jabar Sabit, Afghanistan’s chief prosecutor was summoned by the national assembly for questioning over the fate of 4000 prisoners who whose fate is undetermined or has passed their sentence, Jabar said “we don’t have a good legal structure. We can’t process a suspect in less than nine months” when the MPs brought up the issue of torture and abuse in Poli-Charkhi jail, Sabit joked “shall I have the head of poli-charkhi arrested?”
Following the chain of signatures and in pursuit of assistance, our documents have been at least to three ministries and Supreme Court, and it’s been touched by at least 50 hands (50 pair of hands). But it’s not yet legalized.

Our marriage certificate is issued by Mohaqiq Kabuli office “Shias are still discriminate. I am going to write an article outlining all the cases of discrimination against shias, including this one. the only reason the ministry of foreign affairs is giving you trouble is because your document is Shia” said Kamran Mirhazar editor of internet based Kabul Press. “I have the same marriage certificate and my wife is Iranian, I had no trouble getting her a one year Afghan residency” he added. Dual behavior of state institution is a clear sign of discrimination and is enforcing Kamran’s point. I contacted Mr. Allemi, the Mullah at Mohaqiq Kabuli office and he was shocked when he heard the government refuses to certify our marriage registration “the marriage certificate we have issued for couples have been used in Afghan city and abroad” he said. Afghan constitution is ensuring religious freedoms for Shias and Shia courts and judicial “the marriage certificate you have is not official, it’s the judiciary which issues the official ones. In Takia Khana chindawal, we are issuing marriage certificate to and it was used abroad, in china and Europe, but not anymore” said Mohammad Baqir Sahibzada, mullah of chindawal taakiakhana and an MP.
First district, a shia part of Kabul, was the most helpful. Although, I am not living in the first district, they offered to put a lot of stamps on the marriage certificate. They supposed if the certificate is approved by first district, the ministry of foreign affairs might authenticate it.

The man in smart suit with a flag of Afghanistan on his chest, at the consulate department of ministry of foreign affairs told us to go to Supreme Court and they will instruct us how to get a legal marriage certificate. “the supreme court is not where the process starts, if you start at your district court, the procedures will bring you to the supreme court” said the marriage certificate section of supreme court. Abdul Matin Hamdam, director of investigation in Afghanistan’s prosecutor office explained the process as following “you go to district court on their office hours, he will send you to office of residence registration who will give you a form, you fill out the form and go to the court with the witnesses. After your registration at the district court they will send you to the provincial court where you’ll be referred to residence registration again. Then you’ll go to your local Mullah where you’ll get married again and the witnesses will sign again, you should preferably have the witnesses of first marriage. Then you bring the form back to provincial court where it will be stamped. Then you take the form to a ‘Darul Wakalla’ where it will be officially translated, from there it goes to ministry of justice who will approve the Darul Wakala, afterward you take the document to supreme court where the stamp approval of your marriage certificate and it’s translation. Then it goes to ministry of foreign affairs for legalization” I was quite confused I wrote this all down and called Faiz M. Nayab, editor in chief of Radio Salam Watandar, I asked Mr. Nayab to explain the process again, he said “Sofya has to convert to Islam again and this time most likely to Sunni Islam” what is Sofya’s muslim name? he asked “Fatima binta Evgeniy” I said. “She will probably get another name too” Nayab added. “What if Sofya doesn’t want to convert to Islam?” I asked Dawod Panjshiri, head of consulate department of ministry of foreign affairs “I don’t think you can get married. But just convert” he shrugged his shoulder and narrowed his eyes as a sign of ‘what is the big deal’! after few days I found my district court and told Mr. Abdul Haiy at six district court that we want to get married “does Sofya’s parents know about it?” he asked. i asked “why does that matter?” he give me a suspicious look and said “it doesn’t matter for the court. We have to send you to ‘Wakil Guzar’ head of the neighborhood and he might want to know” I was curious about the head of the neighborhood, I soon found out he is not part of the court system and he is a guy who acts on behalf of the neighborhood, although the system is called official but it’s a combination of official and unofficial system. The official system relies for information on unofficial system because there is no recording system at the official system. The unofficial system is based on favors and bribery if I pay Wakil Guzar he approves if not he send me to neighbor whom I absolutely don’t know. I came back to Mr. Nayab and told him my findings, he thought for awhile as he was rubbing his hand on his shaved chin and said “all this could be done without a headache if you bribe some judges”

I have been to several district courts in search to find one with the easiest process. The process could be made very easy with a little cash motivation but I am not going down that path. A friend of mine in district 3rd made it possible to go to the 3rd court, the judge said “this is weird, we haven’t had anyone yet marrying a non-Muslim, I will talk with the boss and come back in the afternoon” in the afternoon three of them were sitting in the office with very serious faces, the boss started “we need to have some formal request for arranging your marriage, we need a letter from Russian embassy in Kabul to say you guys are getting married” it was a waste of time I went to district court 6th and the judge said “you are going on the wrong path. i.e. bottom to up. It’s an up to down approach, you should go to supreme court office and file two separate requests, one for marriage and one for Sofya conversion” quite confused by courts I contacted a journalist friend, Asar Hakimi “marriage is a civil issue while we are not civilized people, 99% of our marriages are social” he said.

“marriage is my tradition; whoever turns away from my tradition is not among my followers” these are the words of Mohammad, prophet of Islam, I was listening to this on the radio, as the music was fading in a radio spot started, a judge was persuading a villager to register his marriage “registered marriages help with social benefits and the protection of husband and wife rights” this message was part of a multi-million dollar project by an NGO and ministry of women affairs. 99% of Afghan marriages are unregistered and there is a growing concern about the well being of women with multi-wives husband.

I decided to go to ministry of women affairs to seek their support in legalization of our marriage certificate. “why do you need to legalize this document? If Sofya is staying in Kabul, you should ask the president to give her Afghan citizenship” said Malia Sahak, deputy minister of women affairs. i told her the version of legalization I knew from the website of UK foreign office “Legalisation is the official confirmation that a signature, seal or stamp appearing on a document is genuine. Having a document legalised does not mean that the content of a document is accurate or that the Foreign office approves of it”
She asked Sofya why she is marrying me “because I love him” said Sofya in broken Farsi, she broke into laughter and started fumbling through papers she looked at me and said my husband has studied in Moscow “he must have enjoyed sweeties like her” I took that with a smile and translated a nicer version of it, to help Sofya join the laughter.

deputy minister of women affairs was making a phone call to help, when she found out that I am Sanjar Qiam, a journalist who did a piece on Massooda Jalal, former minister of women affairs who was beaten up by her husband so badly during her final months of pregnancy which resulted in miscourage; she put the phone down and said she couldn’t help us. Frankly, I was not particularly impressed by them either. I am wondering how a ministry could stand for women’s rights whose deputy believes ‘women are sweetie for men to enjoy’.

Why shouldn’t marriage be part of Judicial?

Judiciary is the most corrupted column of Afghanistan. Judiciary is not generally trusted by public, a recent study shows:
One-third had faith in local elders for resolving any problem …
Another 16% said they would approach government courts.
Marriage shouldn’t be a complicated judicial case. This will encourage marriage registration, marriages which are recognized by the civil authorities will protect women rights, children and their lives, it will eventually prevent men who engage in polygamy that is condoned under certain situation.

In many countries civil marriages are merely a registration. Civil marriage law made the declaration of the marriage before an official clerk of the civil administration (both spouses affirming their will to marry) the procedure to make a marriage legally valid and effective, and reduced the clerical marriage to an optional private ceremony.

A marriage is an interpersonal relationship with governmental, social, or religious recognition, and created as a contract. The marriage certificate we are currently holding is issued by a religious authority, but its not recognized by the government “this is a commercial document and has no basis for us” said the official in ‘Zatia’ (marriage document section of supreme court) department. This is while the government is recognized by religion and constitutionally nothing could be contrary to religion.

The most likely civil marriage process:

Civil marriage is not clear “the document you from Moaqiq office is Harfi (costumary), it’s not official, sharaie marriage document is only issued by the court” said the judge of first district. The term civil is referred to as Sharaie, perhaps based on the assumption that all afghan laws are based on sharia. The process is not clear at all, it’s random and at the mercy of the corrupt judge. What comes in civil marriage media spot is no where near reality. while I was attempting to try every single district court, to find the easiest. I went on the internet to find contacts for district court but there was nothing. Then I went to Kabul court, family court, penal court, Supreme Court in search of the number. “you know how dangerous its for judges in Afghanistan because of the serious security concerns, we can’t give you any number” said the head of Kabul court.

To marry a foreign citizen an Afghan citizen should follow the following steps, The process could take several months. This is only when it’s a Male Afghan citizen, the process is different when a female Afghan citizen is marrying a foreigner “when a foreign woman is marrying an Afghan, we find out through her embassy that she is not already married or criminally convicted” said at the fifth district court. I think this is bias and unfair.

A Letter of Non-Impediment to Marriage ("marriage letter") should be prepared in the home country of the foreign partner. This form (partner’s language) contains basic information, marital statue, criminal record (and any other information which the judge wishes to have which I don’t know at this point). The letter comes to the respected embassy and from there it’s official translated in a ‘Darul Waqala’ the letter then goes to ministry of justice for endorsement of Darul Waqala. Then the letter comes to ministry of foreign affairs. the ministry of foreign affair give a copy to the relevant court. This is against the 1961 Hague Convention abolishing Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. ideal, an international document destined for use in Afghanistan should be certified by one of the officials in the jurisdiction in which the document has been executed.

A letter of Non-impediment to marriage should be prepared by Afghan partner. After bringing a letter of criminal clearance from police, the neighborhood representative confirms of applicants good character. The neighborhood representative also confirms applicant’s martial statue.

take all the documents, including original passport (with a translation), the authenticated original death or divorce decree (if any) (with translation), and the authenticated Letter of Non-Impediment to Marriage, with translation to supreme court.

A petition should be formed form Supreme court, with the approval of supreme court documents should be delivered to Kabul court. After the approval of Kabul court, I am referred to penal court. (court structure is confusing, I am trying to get an organogram, I have been to at least half a dozen).

Kabul court sent me to district court, I was sent to 5th district court, where my parents live because Kabul court considered it as my permanent court. Then I was to. The fifth district court referred me to sixth district court and that is where Sofya and I live. The sixth district court referred me to seventh district court, where the Russian embassy is. According to the head of sixth district court the marriage takes place in the area where the embassy of the wife is located.

The court gave me an application, application goes to municipality, the municipality asks the representative of the neighborhood to fill it out the representative of the neighborhood asks the neighbor to supply the information. Once I have the information I have to get approval of neighborhood representative and municipality and then bring it to district court.

The district court marries the couple again and sends the certificate to Kabul court, with the approval of Kabul court it goes to Supreme Court for final validation.
The marriage certificate should be translated by an official translator and then brought to ministry of justice.
The translated version is authenticated by ministry of foreign affairs.

Let’s do it, please:

Nothing could be passed in any court without bribery “if things go with you smoothly, give me a telephone top up card” mobile card has replaced tea, it’s the new bribe phrase for court cleaners. Once passed him, the judges, administrators and chiefs have a pact, in two district courts I have paid 6000 Afghanis “this money is not going to me, I feed the big fish and colleagues” told me the administrator in one of the courts. 6000 has only got part of my work done. Small bribes only move the process from one court to another. It’s cheaper to pay one lump sum amount of bribe for getting everything done. Its going to cost US$2000 in bribe, for me to get a marriage document “the court (first district) had similar cases where US$3000 or 4000 was paid, this is a reasonable amount to show a good gesture, it’s a matter of virtue, and make a good impression to your wife who has converted to Islam” was told in the first district court “god bless corrupt officials” said an old man waiting in a line in seventh district our “we would never get anything done in Afghanistan if they didn’t exist” I don’t believe in that, corrupt officials make the process complicated to get what they want, in a broader scenario they are harming the society, they are the public face of the government and they introduce government as a monster which can’t be changed and reformed and the public has no say in it’s affairs and how it conduct business. The injustice will continue as long as people pay, civil servants already think it’s their right to thief people. Sonia was very frustrated in seventh district court.
7th district staff started pouring into the yard, as our debate on corruption was warming up “this is not corruption, its assisting a Muslim who is paid 3500 AFs in a month, which is in not enough at all” said a Kabul municipality employee “I don’t think your government compelled them to take the job, they made a conscious choice” said Sonya, it’s unlikely that civil servants and especially the judges are told that they are paid 3500Afs plus they could rape off the public. “It’s your fault that you translated everything for Sofya, the Sharia commands to consensus and your action is unislamic” said another court staff when talking to me.

In the office of 7th district where Sofya and I were getting married the chief judge said “what is with your hair?” I pretended, I didn’t hear him, there was a look of suspicion and distrust in the eyes of judges “your hair style is girly and I don’t like it” the chief justice continued. it heathenly saddens me to hear anything like it, disregarding who it’s addressed to and especially when it comes from the head of a court, it reminds me Taliban, it reminds me that Taliban are at our door steps and waiting, we continue our mistakes so they could come back. It’s a human right and an Islamic notion that one shouldn’t be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, nor to be attacked upon his honour and reputation.
We can bring justice to judiciary. As an Afghan citizen I am fully prepared to go to many courts and fake a judicial case .i.e. my marriage, and gather evidence against corrupt officials. Through media we can launch a public campaign encourage the public to gather evidence against corrupt officials.

However this is not going to solve the problem, corruption starts from the top and the lower level staff is often a medium. Tackling top level corruption requires policy decision and that is not in the hands of citizen, eradicating top level as well as bottom level corruption also require reforming judicial system and the way government is run in Afghanistan.



Best,


Sanjar
April 23, 2007

Marriage of Inconvenience

The case of a woman whose “husband” is a six-year-old child highlights the problems of childhood betrothals in Afghanistan. Gulghoti is a beautiful young woman of 25. Her dark eyes soften, then fill with tears as she looks at Hekmat, a quiet, skinny six-year-old who lives with her. “I have brought him up since he was three,” she said, her voice breaking. “I even used to feed him.” The boy is not her child, her brother, or even her stepson. He is her husband. “My life is just one big problem,” she said. “Please tell other people not to do this.” Six years ago, Gulghoti, who lives in southern Helmand province, married a young man to whom she had been betrothed since they were both children. Once the parents had agreed on the match and the terms, the deal was almost impossible to break, even after her fiancé was seriously injured in an accident. Her father died when she was young, and her widowed mother did not have the means to resist pressure to honour the contract. Gulghoti duly married her disabled fiance when she was 19, but he died after a year, leaving her a widow. According to custom in this predominantly Pashtun region, once a woman marries, she remains more or less the property of her husband’s family. If she is widowed, she will commonly be married off to a relative of her deceased husband. “I had to obey these rules, and marry my husband’s younger brother,” said Gulghoti. This happened despite the fact that Hekmat was only three at the time. “They forced me to marry this baby,” she said. “By the time he reaches adolescence, I will be an old woman.” Hekmat does not understand that the woman who bathes him, looks after him, and prepares his meals is actually his wife. He calls her “khala” - “auntie”. He is small and shy, and shrinks away from strangers. He does not attend school – no one in his family is literate. In Afghanistan, parents sometimes betroth their children almost as soon as they are born. There are cases of 10-day-old children being engaged or even married to each other, despite legal and religious prohibitions against underage marriages. In most deals, a significant amount of money changes hands. The groom’s family provides a bride-price, along with gifts of clothing, jewellery, sometimes livestock. The transaction makes it difficult to renege on the contract later on. The custom is dying out in certain parts of the country, but there are still many instances where people such as Gulghoti and Hekmat are caught in a situation they cannot control. “I will never be happy,” said Gulghoti. “I will never be a real wife.” The young woman lives in her husband’s home, as is customary, and trembles with fear that he father-in-law might hear that she has spoken to a reporter. “But please give my message to others,” she begged. “Tell parents not to arrange marriages for their children when they are babies. It only leads to this kind of catastrophe.”

Shamilla: in the prison of conspiracies

“I run off from home in a rented-car with my step son, it was around 12:30 pm, he brought me (to Kabul), my step son had killed another wife of my husband. We are at five (pm) in Kabul. My dad and mom were expecting me in Kampani (district). My husband committed the tyranny of nine worlds on me, when I was ill (or giving birth) he even didn’t get me a tablet. he made me run away” Those are Shamilla’s words. Shamilla is 19, she is imprisoned in Kabul jail with her a year and half year old child. According to shamilla, under Taliban when she was only 12, in exchange for his brother life she was married to a 42 years old Taliban. She continues “my husband is influential, he is rich, I have nothing other than God. He took our dossier down to Kandahar (from Kabul), the verdict was in his favor, he informed Kabul and they put me in jail, while he is enjoying his freedom. After he relocated the dossier to kandahar, where he has connections, I refused to go, then they put me in prison”

Shamilla’s family are from Kabul, when Taliban captured Kabul her brother was took in custody for having weapons, the family bought some guns for Taliban in exchange for the release of the brother, but Taliban wanted Shamilla “my husband was a Taliban, their check point was across our house, he was eyeing me when I was leaving the house and eventually he jailed my brother. My brother still suffers feet injuries. Taliban accused him of being a commander. When the elders delivered the rifles, they asked for me.
My husband took me to Kandahar where I lived for seven years, I haven’t been to Kabul in five years, my weak dad came to kandahar with my aunt and humbly demanded my husband to allow me to go to Kabul for ten days, but he didn’t he told them: ‘imagine Shamilla is dead’. ”

Prosecutors and the relevant courts are not keen to reveal much of her story. Disregarding the accuracy of all what Shamilla says, the question is whether Shamilla’s relationship with her husband and the response of justice is fair. Since Shamilla is living in kandahar her case should be handled in Kandahar. Imprisoning Shamilla in Kabul is unlawful, the prosecutor office believes if shamilla goes to kandahar her life would be in danger and her husband might kill her; in which case the husband should be serving in jail instead of Shamilla, on charges of intention to murder and wives abuse. Shamila said “I can’t tell you what my husband has done to me. He did lots of bad things, which made me run away and I asked for justice, I asked for divorce, and it’s been eight months since my petition.
My husband took the dossier to Kandahar and I was told to go for adjudge, but I won’t go there, even if they kill me here”

Shamilla was twelve when she was married that is four years under the age of marriage fixed in constitution. Shamilla marries a 42 year old man who is from Kandahar under Taliban, who doesn’t have family connection with Shamilla, obviously, in such kind of marriage some force and oblige has been used. Shamilla was considered a child according the constitution; shamilla is 19 and as an adult she has the right to change what happened to her as a child.

Shamilla says a bit more about her husband “my husband had another wife, one year before me he killed her, he did horrible things to her and she suffered a heart attack. He is over 50, and I have two kids, he has 15 kids from other wives, 11 of which have died. I didn’t live with his other wives. Sometimes he was feeding me. Often he was telling me stories of being with other women”

Supreme Court prejudged another similar dossier sometime ago, a 16 year old woman was married at the age of 13 and she wanted divorce, but supreme court denied her request and adjured she should return to her husband.

شمیلا در زندان توطئه ه

"از خانه فرار كردم، ساعت دوازده ونيم بجه روز بود، بچه اندرم كورولا را كرايه كرد، و مرا (به کابل) آورد ، بچه اندرم يك انباغم را كشته بود.
ساعت 5 بجه (عصر) به كابل رسيديم. باز پدرم همراه مادرم به (ساحه) كمپني آمد.
شوهرم ظلم و ظالمي 9 دنيا را سرم مي كرد، وقتي ناجور مي بودم حتي يك تابلت هم به مه نمي آورد. من مجبور شدم كه فرار كنم"
این حرف های شمیلا است. شمیلا 19 سال دارد، اکنون در نظارتخانه ی ولایت کابل با کودک یک ونیم ساله اش زندانی است. به گفته ی شمیلا، در زمان طالبان، که وی 12 سال داشت، در برابر رهایی برادرش از قید طالبان، تبادله شده بود. یک سرباز 42 ساله ی طالب، شمیلا را در قید نکاح خویش آورد. شمیلا می افزاید: "شوهرم زورمند است، و پيسه دارد، ما به غير خدا ديگر كس را نداريم. دوسيه را قندهار برد، فیصله به نفع او شد، اطلاع داد (به کابل) و مرا هم اينجا زندانی كردند و خودش آزاد مي گردد.
دوسيه را كه (شوهرم) قندهار برد، (در کندهار) واسطه دارد و گفتند كه بايد قندهار بروم، و وقتي كه من نرفتم مرا اينجا بندي كردند."
خانواده، شمیلا اهل کابل میباشند، زمانی که طالبان کابل را اشغال نمودند، برادر شمیلا به جرم داشتن سلاح توسط طالبان زندانی گردید، خانواده شمیلا به خاطر رهایی وی، چند میل سلاح خریداری کردند تا در مقابل فرزند خویش تبادله نماید، اما طالبان از سلاح صرف نظر نموده و خواهان شمیلا شدند.

"شوهرم طالب بود، و روبروي خانه ي ما پوسته داشت، وقتي من بيرون مي رفتم، او به من نگاه ها می انداخت، و بلاخره برادر مرا بندي كرد، وفعلا برادرم پاهايش زخمي است، ادعا کردند که وی قوماندان است. در مقابل رهایی برادرم خواهان سلاح و تفنگچه شدند، وقتي ريش سفيدان را جمع كرديم تا سلاح بديم، گفتند كه ما سلاح كار نداريم ما دختر را كار داريم.

در قندهار 7 سال را همرايش تير كرديم ، 5 سال مرا كابل نياورد، پدرم آمد - ريش سفيد - به پاهايش افتاد وگفت: در كابل خبرآمده بود كه شميلا مرده.
پدرم همراي شوهر خاله ام به پاهايش افتاد، عذر كرد كه دخترم را فقط براي ده روز اجازه بده، به كابل بيايد ولي او نماند، گفت اين طور فكر كنيد كه شميلا مرده است."

سارنوالی و محاکم مربوطه در مورد دوسیه ی شمیلا، از دادن پاسخ ابا ورزیدند،. ولی بدون در نظر داشت صحت ادعا وی، سوال پیدا میشود که آیا این رابطه ی شمیلا با شوهرش و برخورد قضا با شمیلا ،عادلانه است.
از انجایی که محل اصلی سکونت شمیلا کندهار است، پرونده وی باید به محکمه مربوطه کندهار محول گردد. حبس شمیلا در کابل و تعقیب پرونده وی در کابل کاریست غیر قانونی، سارنوالی به این باور است، اگر شمیلا به کندهار برود، حیات اش در خطر خواهد بود و شوهرش ممکن اقدام به قتل وی کند، که در این صورت شوهر شمیلا، به جرم قصد قتل و تهذیب شمیلا، باید به زندان افگنده شود. شمیلا میگوید: "بسيار به من ظلم مي كرد، من حتی آنها را به شما گفته نمي توانم، بسيار كارهاي خراب مي كرد، كه من هم گريختم، همين جا سرش عريضه كردم، و خواهان طلاق شدم، و فعلا 8 ماه مي شود كه همراي او دعوا داريم،
خودش آمد و دوسيه را با خودش قندهار برد و سرم چپه كرد، با دادن رشوه، حالا اينجا بندي ام کرد. او دوسيه را قندهار برده، به من ميگوید؛ کندهاربرو دعوا كن، ولي من انجا رفته نمي توانم، من همين جا به مرگ خود راضي هستم، ولي حاضر نيستم كه به کندهار بروم چرا كه آنجا من در خطر هستم، و قوماندانها مرا مي زنند."

شمیلا در زمان عروسی 12 سال داشت که این خود چهار سال، پائین تر از سن ازدواج است که قانون اساسی تعیین نموده است. عروسی شمیلا با مرد 42 ساله صورت میگیرد، که در زمان طالبان اهل کندهار میباشد، و دوستی یا شناخت خانواده گی با شمیلا ندارد.اشکاراست که در اینجا از زور و اجبار کار گرفته شده است. و حتی اگر نشده باشد، شمیلا به اساس قانون اساسی کودک پنداشته میشود و حالا که 19 ساله است منحیث شخص بالغ حق دارد که از تصمیم کودکانه خود منصرف شده و با شوهر خود زنده گی نکند. اما قضا به عوض پاسخ به خواست مشروع شمیلا و ترتیب طلاق وی، شمیلا را به زندان می اندازد.

پرونده مشابه یی چند قبل مورد فیصل ستره محکمه قرار گرفت، دختر 19 ساله ی در 13 ساله گی به ازدواج داده شده بود، میخواست از شوهر طلاق بگیرد، اما ستره محکمه درخواست اش را رد نمود، وی را در قید شوهر قرار داد.

شمیلا در مورد شوهرش میگوید: "شوهرم یک خانم (دیگر) داشت، يك سال پيش از من اورا كشته بود. كارهاي بد همرايش مي كرد و فشارش بلند رفت. فعلا تريا ك كار مي كند، 50 يا 55 ساله باشد، خودم دو اولاد دارم و از انباغم 11 تا (طفل اش) مرده و 4 تايش زنده است .
من همراه زن ديگر اش زندگي نكردم، او يك سال قبل از من مرده بود. من را كه دلش مي شد نان و چاي مي داد وخودش مي رفت در هوتل (رستورانت) نان مي خورد، باز مي آمد و قصه مي كرد، كریم و پودرها را در موتر مي ماند، و به من مي گفت، شميلا بيا ببين كه من زنها را امروز برده بودم . همراه من همه بي انصافي (ها) را مي كرد كه من گفته نمي توانم"