The stolen innocence of a child bride“I have heard that white dresses are worn on some special occasions, mother,” said eleven-year-old Nilofar and then looked into her mother’s eyes waiting to receive her approval.“That’s... Page 3

Afghanistan: Conservative Traditions Limiting ProgressConservative traditions are holding back progress in Afghanistan’s southeastern province of Zabul, according to speakers at an Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)... Page 4

Saturday, March 11, 2017 Vol. 2, No. 68

2. Personal Essays3. Short Story4-5. News

6. Star Related7. Literary8. Interview

See Inside Quote of the Week“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks in-side, awakens." - Carl Jung

Star Educational Society Weekly

Interstellar (adjective): situated or occurring between the stars; conducted, or existing between two or more stars

Afghanistan sitting on richest mines... Page 5

My educational journeyMy life started in a small village called Diwgan, located in Maidan Wardak Province. Unfortunately, my eyes opened to a country full of fright and war. When I was four years old, my family migrated to Pakistan due to the insecurities and economic challenges in Afghanistan. ... Page 2

Hazara refugee Nabi Za-her’s citizenship fightFor eight months, Nabi Zaher waited for news of his citizenship ceremony. Nabi lives in Wollongong, a 90-minute drive south of Sydney. A Hazara refu-gee, he had passed the citizenship test on January 24, 2015. Two weeks later, he received an approval letter from the Department of Immigration and Bor-der Protection and... Page 6

management of Star Educational Soci-ety has hinged on our ability to embrace change. Management, in our elabora-tion of the term, is the ability to make change with the progression of time and the needs of a community. In 2003, Star opened the doors of opportunity for English language learners with a single branch in Kabul. The idea of opening an English language center was motivated by the desire to serve the aggrieved, underprivileged and highly motivated youth in the West of Kabul. With the hope of creating positive social mobility for this community, Star opened a door to global communication, and propelled a traditional society toward improve-ment, opportunities, technology, and modern educational systems.

One branch was not enough for this large community. People demanded more services and capacity from Star. Therefore, Star opened new branches

in Kabul and other provinces. We began cultural activities, sporting events, and started publishing the Interstellar Bulle-tin and Shahrzad Magazine, which have been great achievements. The results are impressive. Each year thousands of students are getting their English Di-plomas, attaining new jobs, receiving scholarships, continuing their higher education and improving the styles of their lives.

Many Star alumni have pursued high school, undergraduate and gradu-ate studies in respected institutions around the world, which gives us a huge sense of pride and accomplishment. Star is committed to the improvement of our students and teachers and we are dedicated to bringing changes in so-ciety. Day-by-day, we are reaching our goals. Now Star has become an honored and respected brand in Afghanistan.

As such, management at Star can-not be categorically linked to any single management style. During the first years of its establishment in Kabul, most of the administrative decisions were solely

taken by the founder and chairman. As branches came into existence and good systems were in place, Star’s manage-ment system became more democratic. Each branch had its own manager. We developed the Program Learning Group (PLG) to hear the voices of senior teach-ers and began to make recruiting deci-sions mostly the votes of the majority of the senior teachers.

The branches expanded, the num-ber of teachers and students skyrock-eted between 2008 to 2010. At one point, management allowed freedom of choice for teachers to apply their methods, materials and plans. However, as time passed, the lack of administrative co-ordination, lack of shared values and, most strikingly, the variations in the quality of products in different levels, caused Star to adopt a mixed manage-ment strategy. This strategy has allowed us to best serve the needs of students and administration in all centers.

Whatever the needs may be, Star will adopt the ideal educational envi-ronment for our learners.

In short, management is defined as the administration of an organiza-tion. Management, as an academic discipline, refers to the branch of knowledge which is connected to

studying the principles and practices of basic administration. This includes input, output, process, feedback, evalu-ation, changes and creating an effective system.

Management starts by setting goals, planning, mapping projects, executing projects, reducing expenses and reason-able achievements of those goals. The key to successful management is hiring the right employees for the right jobs, considering their talents and ability, providing valuable employment oppor-tunities, offering fair wages and creating a sense of ownership within the employ-ees.

Keeping all the above details on management in mind, the successful

Embracing change at Star Educational Society

A message from Mustafa Hussaini, Star’s Executive Director

March 11th, 2017

Vol.2, No. 68 Personal Essays

Page 2

person, you should not compare yourself with others." Jawad Jamal was also one of those teachers who encouraged me and taught English in a different and in-teresting way. I obtained my Diploma in June of 2011 and began teaching differ-ent levels of English in different educa-tional centers in the west of Kabul which formed a memorable part of my life.

In 2014, after passing the Kankoor examination successfully, I was accept-ed in the Faculty of Computer Science at Kabul Education University. Entering university and studying my favorite field made me a more motivated person. And finally, in 2017, I joined Star Educational Society again and attended the teacher training class with the goal of joining Star as a teacher and servant to my commu-nity. In conclusion, I would like to thank all of Star’s family members for making Star Educational Society the best society for learning.

School had its own curriculum and methods of teaching. These curriculums and methods of teaching made Marefat one of the best schools in Peshawar. Al-though I only studied in Marefat Private School for one year, it was the year when I learned to read and write.

In 2001, when the Taliban regime was defeated by US military forces, the opportunity to return to my homeland was open. I had a great image of Afghani-stan. Hearing about the collapse of the Taliban regime gave me an increased hope for a developed Afghanistan. When we came to Afghanistan, it was not like I had imagined. Still, I felt better in Af-ghanistan than in Pakistan. I was happy to meet my relatives, cousins, uncles, and aunts whom I had never met.

After passing some days, my fa-ther decided to enroll me in one of the governmental high schools. The school didn’t have any facilities like today’s schools have. There was only an old car-pet with lots of noisy children and a harsh teacher who controlled the students with his thick stick. The teachers didn’t pay attention to student’s hopes. The learn-ing process became more boring for me day by day until I completely failed the fifth grade. Failing the fifth grade didn’t make me demotivated, but it did make me struggle to get a good position in my new class.

I started to learn English in 2008 and I enrolled myself in different educational centers to learn the English language. After one year of learning English in dif-ferent educational centers, I found that I couldn’t learn very well. This was the time when I learned about Star Educa-tional Society, a center where I could learn English much better than other Educational centers. My journey to learn English began.

My life started in a small village called Diwgan, located in Maidan War-dak Province. Unfortunately, my eyes opened to a country full of fright and war. When I was four years old, my family mi-grated to Pakistan due to the insecurities and economic challenges in Afghanistan. A new chapter of my life started as an im-migrant child in Pakistan in 1998.

I didn’t feel any shortages in my life due to having the best mother, father, and brothers, who did everything for me that needed to be done. In 2000, my fam-ily enrolled me in Marefat Private School. It was the only school accepting Afghan immigrants, and was actually established by an Afghan immigrant named Aziz Royesh. I started learning the alphabet for the first time and had many friendly teachers who taught me very well.

During that time, Marefat Private

I wanted to register in Level One, but the manager said I had to take a place-ment test to determine the level I would enter. I took the test and was accepted in Junior Beginner, my first class at Star Ed-ucational Center. Star had serious rules and regulations, which made it one of the best educational centers in the country. One of the rules is for teachers and stu-dents to display badges when entering the center.

Unfortunately, I failed as a Junior Beginner, but I didn’t give up. I learned English with different teachers at Star, some who made big changes in my life. For instance, Hussain Moradi who taught me Level Three in 2010, had a big impact on me. He was a memorable teacher be-cause every day he started the lesson with a joke. He encouraged us to have self-confidence and said, "No one is better than you, the abilities that you have, oth-ers may not have. To be a self-confident

Even though my past was full of pain, I regret nothing in my life. I still look back and smile, because it led me to the suc-cess that I enjoy today. Studying urban

went to class regularly and on time with-out knowing why.

When my father returned home from Iran, he was suffering from a cranial nerve disease. I had just started 1st grade. It is hard to forget the three long years with a sick father and a sorrowful mother. The seconds passed by slowly as my mother worried about the future of her two hun-gry children. A sparkle of hope ignited in our family when my father got his health back. At the same time, I started a new, fruitful chapter of my life.

My father told me how going to school would help me to acquire a bright-er future. I was in the fifth grade when he shared with me all the excruciating ex-periences he had suffered as a refugee in Iran. He deeply regretted not having the chance to complete his education. “You have to be paid for your knowledge rather than for your brawn. Because muscle will deteriorate, but knowledge can grow,” he told me. By the next winter, he started teaching me the basics of mathematics and Dari and prevented me from wast-ing my time playing football. He would have beat me if he saw me playing foot-ball again.

By the next year of school, I held the first position of the class and was deter-mined to avoid the poverty that my family suffered from. I began to dream of being an engineer. I started chasing that dream by studying hard. After my family went to sleep at night, I had to study outside my home since we only had one living room

planning at Kabul Polytechnic is just a dream for many people.

When I was small, my father was working in Iran. I was interested in doing

everything but go-ing to school. When my mother discov-ered that I tried to escape from my re-ligious lessons, she beat me. She was so eager for me to learn to read so that I could read my fa-ther’s letters to her. I still remember the day when my cousin convinced me to skip my class and go with him. My mother was in-formed by someone else and found us going toward the mountain instead of to the abusive mul-lah waiting for me at the mosque. After my mother caught me and beat me in a very bad way, it was my first and last day of escaping my lessons. After that, I never dared to disobey my mother again. As a result, I

for the whole family. Losing precious op-portunities because of my family’s pov-erty intensified my drive and I began to push myself as hard as possible to make my dreams come true one day. For me, learning is the greatest effort I can make - an effort to recover the opportunities I lost due to poverty, to acquire all the things I never had, and to compensate for the deprivation suffered by myself, my family and my society.

My educational journey

Learning is the best effort

About the author: Fakher Ahmad Amirzad is a Star alumnus and member of Star’s Teacher Training class. He is a se-nior in the Faculty of Computer Science at Kabul Education University.

About the author: Wahid Ghulami is a Star alumnus and a member of the Teach-ers Training Class. He is currently study-ing urban planning at Kabul Polytechnic University and plans to pursue his mas-ter’s studies in the U.S. He is also the chan-cellor of Danishgah publication.

Photo by Reza Kajabi

Vol.2, No. 67Short Story

Page 3March 11th, 2017

not think or say anything more, yet her mind was full of unanswered questions. She opened the door crying and headed towards the place where she usually played with her toys.

After three days, Nilofar found her-self in a new house with new people. Everything was strange, especially being away from her mother and her toys. She wanted to be back home with her mom, her toys, playing ropery and Jiz Bazi with her friends.

Nilofar turned eleven a few months before the wedding, but her physical ap-pearance was more like an eight or nine-year-old. She was afraid, lonely, and withdrawn. The families were pleased when Amir presented the bloody hand-kerchief on their wedding night in the custom of zuffaf, proving that Nilofar was a virgin. However, she was suffering from more emotional and physical pain than in her whole life.

Nilofar cried most of the time and suffered the pain imposed from con-tinued sexual intercourse. Amir tried so much to relieve her both in the bed and out, but the sudden conversion in her life and experiencing dozens of new things intensified her pain and suffering. At first Amir sympathized with her, reassuring her everything was going to be fine and she will recover her happy life as she had in her parent’s house, but as time passed, he could not tolerate her grief and de-pression anymore. With each day that passed, she felt worse about her new life.

One day, Amir found her playing with toys and singing songs in a corner of their muddy yard. He asked her to stop play-ing with toys onwards. Nilofar said noth-ing, as if she did not hear him. Amir now stepped forward and softly lifted her chin and met her eyes full of tears. He asked the reason for her crying, but did not receive any response. Nilofar looked at his dark face and suddenly dropped her eyes. Amir was waiting for a response, yet his bearded and black face frightened her more than it could relieve her.

The monologue that Amir intended to turn into a husband to wife dialogue lasted for two-three minutes, yet no re-sponse except silence took place. This was somehow humiliating for Amir bow-ing before a girl and not receiving any response. He then brought his lower lips under his teeth, closed his eyes and slapped her in the face. Nilofar fell back and then started screaming and crying out loud. She wanted to run away, but Amir stopped her by grabbing her left hand. Amir was shouting now and curs-ing Nilofar and her parents.

“Your bitch mother promised me that you are a grown-up girl and can deal with everything with ease,” he continued with a lower voice. “You are no child any-more. You are a woman. Do you know what that means? Huh? Tell me.”

“Mmmm,” Nilofar shook her head as a token of acceptance. She wanted to say more things, but was not able to do so. Instead, she cleaned the tears from her eyes and huffed deeply.

“Look at me. This will be my last time seeing you crying. I have not married a bitch who does nothing but cry. The next time I find you crying, I will take your eyes out of their sockets.”

Laila, Amir’s mother, was witnessing the event from the time she heard Nilo-far’s screams.

“Don’t bother yourself my son, I will take care of her,” said Laila, mockingly, yet Nilofar thought of her as being so kind and supportive. “She is our bride now. I’ll teach her how to treat and respect her be-

“I have heard that white dresses are worn on some special occasions, moth-er,” said eleven-year-old Nilofar and then looked into her mother’s eyes waiting to receive her approval.

“That’s right dear. We will also have that occasion soon enough.”

“We? What do you mean?”“You, me, daddy…”“Will you wear a white dress?” said

Nilofar, smiling.“No, dear. You will wear one and

daddy and I will just clap and dance around you. You will be a beautiful bride one day soon.”

“Soon?” asked Nilofar, narrowing her eyes in confusion. She was not smil-ing anymore, instead, she felt fearful. As she was about to ask another question, the door opened and her father entered.

“Is everything ready? The guests are about to arrive,” said Abbas, Nilofar’s fa-ther.

“Ready? Guests? What are they talk-ing about?” Nilofar thought to herself.

She wanted to ask these questions openly and frankly to her father, but she did not dare to. She waited to ask her mother when Abbas was gone. Even though Abbas’s behavior had changed in the past week, she couldn’t forget his ill-tempered behavior and irritating dis-position. Nilofar did not know the reason why Abbas had become so kind and gen-erous and why he bought her so many clothes, veils, shoes, a necklace, earrings, cosmetics and more. She wished she could have discussed things easily with her father, having no fear, as she could with her mother and aunt. An affection-ate relationship with her father had been a dream that dominated Nilofar’s young mind. She was lost in these thoughts and did not notice when her father had left the room when Latifa, her mother, inter-rupted.

“I think it best matches you, my dear,” Latifa continued. “Amir will like you in this dress.”

“Me?” What do you mean, mom? Who is Amir?” asked Nilofar shockingly. She had

seen many brides wearing white dresses, but imagined she would be older before she wore one. She used to dress her hand-made dolls in white dresses and enjoyed playing with them, staring at them and singing songs for them.

“Yes, you will marry Amir. He is a good man and will take good care of you.”

“But mom, he is as old as my father,” Nilofar was now really afraid and could

a boy. Many months later, Nilofar gave birth again. This time, contrary to Amir and her mother-in-law’s wishes, the baby was another girl. The first reaction of Amir was to beat Nilofar while she was still suffering the pain imposed by giving birth.

Nilofar was now 14 years old and she had to put up with her husband’s beating and her mother-in-law’s agonizing and bitter behavior. This was intolerable for her. She planned to leave the house even though she had nowhere to go. Her par-ents’ house was not a safe place anymore because the last time she went there, she was badly beaten by her father for shar-ing her family issues with them. The only friend she made was Zahra, the daughter of a family friend, who usually visited her and played with Nilofar’s daughters.

One day when Zahra came to her house, she found Nilofar crying. Nilo-far explained all the problems. Zahra told her if she really needs to get rid of this miserable situation, she would help her under the condition that she didn’t mention Zahra’s involvement to any-one. Nilofar promised to accept what-ever the consequence would be. The next morning when everyone was out, Nilofar packed her clothes along with the satchel of her toys and left the house for a women’s shelter, leaving her daughters behind. She let no one know about her whereabouts and asked the shelter offi-cials not to mention anything about her to anyone. Nobody ever heard from her again.

loved husband, huh, my flower?”“Bride? Husband? Mother-in-law?”

thought Nilofar confusingly. However, she later grew accustomed to their be-haviors.

Months passed and Nilofar stopped playing with toys in public, but anytime she was alone, she would open the white satchel in which she concealed her toys and would play and sing songs. Amir made her stop going to school. He be-lieved that women do not need to learn and work outside the home because husbands are responsible for providing their support. She was not allowed to go outside or to her parents’ house without Amir’s permission.

Nilofar used to share all her con-cerns, plans and secrets with her mother, but since her marriage, she felt alone and would not share anything with anyone. Mostly she was a tool for Amir’s sexual satisfaction and a servant for him and his parents. Whenever something went wrong, they would beat her. Several times she went to her parents complaining about her struggles, but they did nothing.

After giving birth to a girl, Nilofar was able to enjoy her time with her daughter. Though the family named the newborn baby Mahtab, Nilofar called her Ma-Gull in memory of her childhood friend. She did not know how to bring her up, how to feed her, and how to change her diapers, but she deeply loved the baby. Amir did not like Mahtab, believing that girls don’t have good luck and value for a family, thus he planned to have another baby,

The stolen innocence of a child bride

About the author: Mohammad Ali Fakur is a Star alumnus and a human rights activist. He has a BA with honors in Law and Political Science from Gawharshad University. He is also a civil society activist with numerous appearances on TV shows.

Page 4 March 11th, 2017

Vol.2, No. 68 News

The foundation of Zohra Orchestra and its tour to Europe was the best mo-tivation and hope for the world leaders.

According to Mr. Sarmast’s believe, most people whom he talked with em-phasized on the same matter which was that after they were disappointed of Don-ald Trump’s speech, the only thing for participants that had given them hope was Zohra Orchestra’s performance.

He also added, “In all the opportuni-

and Qawali singers are also active in Na-tional Music Institution.

Head of National Music Institute said, “Not only isn’t there any orches-tra like Zohra in neighboring countries, but we also don’t have in Islamic world. Therefore, Zohra Orchestra can be a good model for Islamic world.”

In National Music Institute of Af-ghanistan among the 210 students, 70 of them are females attending to learn mu-sic lessons.

In his response to a question about how limited female students are to learn music, he said, “In Afghanistan girls and women face social, political, and eco-nomic challenges. In addition, cultural issues have retained music learners and those who are enthusiast to learn. How-ever, it does not mean that a small mem-ber of narrow-minded would impose their ideas on others. This will cause girls to be restricted from learning, growing and contributing in music lessons.”

Conservative traditions are holding back progress in Afghanistan’s south-eastern province of Zabul, according to speakers at an Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)-organised debate.

The event, held in the provincial capi-tal of Qalat city on January 23, 2017, heard that human rights and gender equality were particularly affected by such prac-tices.

Tribal leader Abdul Wali Wali said, “Many time-worn cultural traditions are common in Zabul province; for example, the payment of high dowries, child mar-riages, not taking women in labour to hospital to give birth and other similar problems.”

“Due to the old, unpleasant tradi-tions, people in Zabul face poverty and other difficulties,” he continued. “Adher-ing to these customs mean that people don’t obey and respect the laws of the country, and instead do whatever they want.”

Mohammad Hakim, head of legal af-fairs at Zabul police headquarters, said a lack of education was mostly to blame.

“Due to the high rate of illiteracy, old and detested traditions still dominate and serve to distract government attention. The state is busy solving these individual issues rather than working on the wider problems people face.”

The effect on gender rights was par-ticularly grievous, he added.

“Many women are deprived of edu-cation in Zabul province, so they fall vic-tim to these abhorrent customs,” Hakim continued.

ing money to support her children.”As for child marriage, domestic abuse

and other rights violations, Pathan con-tinued, “Violence against women is un-acceptable. Islam and our rich culture do not permit us to use violent against oth-ers, especially against women.”

Mohammad Naeem Storai, broad-casting manager of Zabul Melli Radio TV, said that local people needed to take responsibility for driving change them-selves.

“When we complain about the ac-tivities of our government, we should also look at our own actions; to what extent

ties we had, either in concerts or in meet-ings, we discussed both challenges and facilities that are in Afghanistan. Many of Cultural Institute, corporations and companies promised to collaborate. As soon as we returned to our country, we received invitations from some countries to attend and perform our concert there.”

In addition to Zohra Orchestra, there are 11 more orchestras in National Music Institute, of which Afghanistan Youth Or-chestra is the biggest. This orchestra has attended to many grand foreign ceremo-nies and had many achievements. The second one is (Saz Hai Badi) – Sheipoor that according to this institute’s officials had performed in many programs. The third one is Zohra Orchestra, which is the most important orchestra in this insti-tute. In the same way, Nahid Orchestra, which is also formed by women perform-ing to improve folkloric and traditional music. Other working groups like Sitar anthem, Western Instrumental Music,

He says, “We had started our pro-gram in 2001 with only one female stu-dent, but this year we have nearly 70 fe-male students. For the upcoming year, we will enroll 30 up to 40 new female students after they successfully finish the admission test. This shows their level of interest in music lessons.”

According to Mr. Sarmast’s be-lieve, “Those were Afghan females who brought the biggest pride for their coun-try, who portrayed a positive image of Af-ghanistan to the world and who did the work that other Afghan politicians and men could not do.”

It is worth remembering that in the history of Afghanistan literature and cul-ture, Zohra is one of the two names of Goddess of music. Leaders and officials of National Music Institute of Afghani-stan say, “To create a link between cul-ture and history of Afghanistan with this orchestra, this way we have chosen the name Zohra Orchestra.”

Local activist Zarmina Pathan agreed, adding, “The main reason behind the il-literacy and poverty of Zabul people are these long-standing, horrible traditions.”

Social development was nearly im-possible under these conditions, she con-tinued.

“Due to a lack of education and pub-lic awareness, these traditions still dic-tate life in Zabul province. That means women are stuck at home and have to re-main there.” She added, “It doesn’t mean that a woman is immoral if she leaves her house. It means that she is lifting herself out of poverty by finding work and earn-

are we obeying and respecting the law of the land, and what are we doing to benefit our country? We are living in a land where no one respects regulations and our peo-ple think they are above the law, and this causes more and more problems.”

Storai added, “If Afghans start re-specting each other’s rights, then it will be easy to eradicate old traditions and it will prepare the ground for starting afresh.”

This report was produced under IW-PR’s Promoting Human Rights and Good Governance in Afghanistan initiative, funded by the European Union Delega-tion to Afghanistan.

Translated by: Mehdi EhsaniSource: Hasht-e-Subh

2nd Part

Zohra portrays new Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Conservative Traditions Limiting ProgressBy Mosa Khan Zabuli

Republished from: https://iwpr.net/global- voices/afghanistan- conservative-traditions- limiting

Page 5

Vol.2, No. 68News

March 11th, 2017

Even though Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest countries, it has the largest mineral treasures in the world. According to various information sources, the value of the mineral resources is estimated around one trillion dollars and according to Awa quoted from Hitech News Agency, Afghanistan is a small country which is rich in minerals and these minerals are created because of a severe impact between Indian and Asian subconti-nents.

American Geologist has done a study on minerals existing in Afghanistan in 2004. Then it became apparent that the American geolo-gist’s service reached to soviet specialist com-puting the treasure of Afghanistan.

American researchers used Arial mapping to provide Magnetic drawing, gravity, and hy-per spectral imaging. Hyper spectral research

lars.Meanwhile, Afghanistan government es-

timated it up to 3 trillion dollars. The groups who are supposed to rehabilitate Afghanistan have done a lot of Geological analysis and re-searches. Evaluation of minerals resources in Afghanistan are associated with certain prob-

immigration detention facility in Orange County, Calif. His wife and children were taken to a detention center in downtown Los Angeles.

Asked for comment on the case, a spokesman for Immigration and Cus-toms Enforcement said only that the agency “will fully comply with the March 4 judicial order and all other legal require-ments.”

The case was the latest instance of what advocates say has been increased scrutiny at American airports since Presi-dent Trump took office, especially after his January executive order temporarily ban-ning travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. A federal court halted that order, but the administration has said it will issue a revised version. Afghanistan was not one of the seven countries in the original ban.

Even so, customs agents at airports have been using their power to detain passengers, demand passwords for smart-phones to search their contents and to even cancel visas. Mem Fox, a best-selling children’s book author from Australia, de-scribed being held for questioning — also

An Afghan family of five that had re-ceived approval to move to the United States based on the father’s work for the American government has been detained for more than two days after flying into Los Angeles International Airport, a legal advocacy group said in court documents filed on Saturday.

A federal judge in Los Angeles issued on Saturday evening a temporary re-straining order to prevent the mother and children from being transferred out of the state. The order, by Judge Josephine L. Sta-ton of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, arrived as they were about to be put on a plane to Texas, most likely bound for a family de-tention center there, lawyers said.

The scene at the airport was “chaotic, panicked; it was a mess,” said Lali Mad-duri, a lawyer with the firm Gibson Dunn, which is representing the family pro bono. “The whole time the children are crying, the woman is crying. They can’t under-stand what’s going on.”

The father had arrived on Thursday with his wife and three children, ages 7, 6 and 8 months, on Special Immigrant Vi-

studies the resonant light spectrum from every minerals, and it can determine a unique mark for each mineral.

The mineral mapping of 70 countries was done during 2 months and researchers con-firmed the USSR’s studies. There are about 60 million tons of copper and 2 milliard and 200 hundred million tons iron. One million and 400 thousands of chemical elements like La, Na, Nd, Au, Ag, Hg, and Li. The value of sedi-mentary carbonates of Khanashin of Helmand has been estimated up to 89 milliard dollars.

Jack H. Medlin, Geologist and program director of the geological survey of America, in an interview with discovery press said, “Af-ghanistan is rich of minerals and we found 24 varieties of minerals which are at global level.” The specialists estimated the value of Afghani-stan’s mineral resources up to 908 milliard dol-

lems, it’s clear that in a country in which peo-ple can’t easily commute, primary program-ming is not possible.

The security situation should be observed because of this valuable sedimentary minerals which can intensify political positions of ma-jor countries of the world toward our country.

at Los Angeles International Airport — for several hours with no access to water or a bathroom, and was prohibited from using her cellphone.

Henry Rousso, a prominent French historian of the Holocaust, said he was de-tained at an airport in Houston for more than 10 hours and was threatened with deportation when he arrived to give the keynote address at a conference at Texas A&M University.

It was unclear exactly how the Afghan man who was detained had helped the United States, but IRAP wrote in the court petition that “his service put not only his own life, but also the lives of his wife and three small children, at risk.”

Kerry Arndt, a spokeswoman for Sena-tor Patty Murray, Democrat of Washing-ton State, where the family was going to settle, said the senator’s office was trying to get information from the Department of Homeland Security, but was “very frus-trated from the lack of communication and information that we’re getting.”

Jennifer Medina contributed reporting.

sas, according to the lawyers’ habeas cor-pus petition filed on Saturday in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. Those visas were created by Congress for citizens in Iraq and Afghanistan who have helped the United States military or government as drivers, interpreters or in other jobs — work that often makes them targets in their home countries.

But instead of being allowed to enter the United States, the family has been de-tained, according to the court papers.

“I’ve never, ever heard of this happen-ing,” said Becca Heller, the director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, or IRAP, which filed the petition. “They go through so many layers of security clear-ance, including one right before they get on the plane.”

Calling the detention “egregious, in-humane and unconstitutional,” the group petitioned the court to release the family, whose names were not publicly revealed. The judge did not order the family be re-leased, but set a hearing in the case for Monday.

According to Ms. Heller, the father was being held Saturday night at a men’s

Translator: Reza SalihiSource: Etillat-e-Roz

Afghanistan sitting on richest mines.

An Afghan Family, With Visas in Hand, Is Detained in Los Angeles

By Nicholas KulishRepublished from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/us/afghan-family-detained-los-angeles-visas.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=0

Page 6 March 11th, 2017

Vol.2, No. 68 Star Related

statement with certificates and letters. “He is a role model refugee; he will make a big contribution to Australia,” one said.

His legal team hoped the department would look at the evidence and argu-ments and change their views. “I and my team of four lawyers collected and sent all the evidence to the department, but they neither accepted nor refused,” Nabi said. “They kept me in suspense so that the time lapses the deadline.”

On the 90th day, the last day before the deadline to respond, Baker McKen-zie filed a case to the Federal Court in Sydney, challenging the department’s allegation of fraud. A court hearing was set for April last year. For the subsequent few months, Nabi spent his time gather-ing evidence and preparing his “passport story”. The threat of deportation loomed over him. It robbed him of sleep. As part of his case, Nabi had to have a forensic examination of the passport prepared, which cost him thousands of dollars. It found the passport was not altered or changed in any way.

A week before the Federal Court hearing, Nabi got a call from his lawyer saying the case had been dropped. “I was so relieved, especially for the fact that I had cleared my name from accusation of fraud which never sat with me from the beginning. I stood to my words to the end.”

People closely involved in Nabi’s case, who did not want to be identified, told The Saturday Paper the department totally disregarded the initial evidence, documentation and explanation that Nabi presented. He would not have had the gruelling experience of preparing for court had the department listened to his story and examined his evidence.

Nabi said he has come across “a high incompetency” in dealing with the de-partment. “There is one thing I learnt, though the hard way: how utterly incom-petent they are. There is no doubt about it.”

In the department’s document, names were continually misspelled and questions to which the department al-ready had answers were asked multiple times.

On one occasion, Nabi received an email from the department that shook him. It asked him to check his criminal history in the attachment. But there was no attachment. “I was so shocked. It was Friday afternoon,” he said. “Imagine you receive an email like that and your whole weekend is ruined.”

ed in my citizenship application.”Nabi was not a boat arrival. He ar-

rived by plane as a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) accepted refugee about seven years ago. He had all the documents with him, in-cluding letters from his former employ-ers. He would not have left Afghanistan if there were no threat to his life. He had a good and well-paid job, working as a se-nior program manager with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), a US non-profit.

Despite the risk to his life while cross-ing Taliban-dominated areas, Nabi was enjoying his job, which involved travel-ling to many provinces, delivering proj-ects on good governance, democracy, cit-izen participation and capacity building for the locals. But an attack that targeted him in front of his home in Kabul in 2008, that nearly killed him, compelled him to leave the country for Pakistan.

In Pakistan, he applied for asylum through the UNHCR in Islamabad. Within a year, he was recognised as a refugee. He was then accepted by Australia, through a family connection to the country, and after a waiting period of more than two years arrived in August 2010.

He enrolled at university in a busi-ness management undergraduate course. Four years later, he became a university medallist and graduated with first-class honours. He was offered a PhD scholar-ship, which he accepted.

Nabi was eight months into his PhD, and two months into presenting his pro-posal, when he received the letter from the department. “It was crazy and stress-ful,” he said. “While I was preparing to present my PhD proposal, this took over everything else. I was basically fighting whether I could remain in the country.”

It was Nabi’s first time dealing with the legal system here, which he found hard to navigate. Nabi could not afford, with his meagre living scholarship, to pay a private solicitor’s fee. He was exhausted and sickened by the whole process, he told me. “Let them deport me, I am tired,” Nabi had told his family and friends.

The legal firm Baker McKenzie agreed to take his case. They had Nabi prepare a detailed story about the granting of his passport.

In an effort to prove he would be a good citizen, Nabi also began writing about his work as an interpreter, about his PhD studies, about his teaching at the university, about his children being top of their classes at school. He backed up his

For eight months, Nabi Zaher waited for news of his citizenship ceremony. Nabi lives in Wollongong, a 90-minute drive south of Sydney. A Hazara refugee, he had passed the citizenship test on January 24, 2015. Two weeks later, he received an ap-proval letter from the Department of Im-migration and Border Protection and was told to wait for his citizenship ceremony, the final stage of becoming an Australian citizen. His wife, who had applied at the same time as he had, received her citizen-ship in June 2015.

Since then, Nabi has frequently checked his mailbox. On September 16, 2015, Nabi received a letter from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. On opening the mail, he was excited, thinking it must be good news. But excitement turned into disbelief and shock as he read the letter, which was laced with legal terms such as “court pro-ceeding”, “bogus” and “fraud”. The letter said Nabi had provided false documents as part of his citizenship application and his passport was “fraudulently altered”. He was given 90 days from the date of the notice to “institute proceedings against the Commonwealth in a court of com-petent jurisdiction” or to “recover the document/s; or seek a declaration that the document is not forfeited”.

At first he thought the department must have made a mistake, sending a let-ter intended for someone else. “I was very shocked. It was hard to digest the allega-tion that I had ‘fraudulently altered’ my passport,” Nabi told The Saturday Paper. “This was an original Afghan passport I had obtained from Kabul. I had travelled to a number of countries with this pass-port and had a US visa on it which was issued after a thorough investigation. If anything was wrong with my passport, they would not have issued a visa.”

Within an hour of opening the letter, Nabi wrote an email to the department. He explained that he did not accept the department’s assessment. But there was no response from the department. He got worried. He consulted Legal Aid, which advised him it was serious. His citizen-ship application could be rejected and then his permanent visa would be re-voked by the department on character grounds. He would then be detained and likely deported. “I was not so concerned about myself,” he said, “but about my two children, whose names had been includ-

He had committed no offences, but convinced himself there must be some sort of infraction. “Maybe I have done something wrong which I am not aware of and it’s only the Department of Immi-gration that knows it.”

He wrote back to say that there was no attachment in the email about his “criminal history”. On Monday, he re-ceived an email saying the email was not intended for him.

Refugees, especially those who ar-rived by boat, have to pass a very vigorous test for citizenship. Some have had their applications cancelled or arbitrarily de-layed. Many can’t afford to pay legal fees when complications arise. An Iranian ref-ugee, who was interviewed by this paper, said his citizenship was cancelled and his visa was revoked because the department suspected him of providing a fake driver’s licence document. He had waited three years for his citizenship ceremony.

“I was lucky to have the support of people around me,” Nabi said of his ex-perience. “If I did not have their support, who knows where I would be now.”

There are thousands of refugees on permanent protection visas, most who arrived by boat, who have had their ap-plication delayed for no apparent reason. They live in a state of despair but the de-partment is either unresponsive or says it is “under process”. In September 2015, The Saturday Paper wrote about the de-partment’s delay in issuing citizenship to Hazara refugees who had permanent res-idency. The matter was taken to the Fed-eral Court by two Hazara refugees who had waited 18 months for their citizen-ship ceremony, supported by the Refugee Council of Australia. The Federal Court ruled in November that the department unreasonably delayed their citizenship. It may provide some hope for those in simi-lar situations now.

Even after the department conceded its error, Nabi’s ordeal continued for sev-eral more months. He was interrogated again. This time, he was asked to provide the names and numbers of his siblings and relatives back home. His former em-ployer in Washington was contacted to confirm Nabi’s identity. After two years, Nabi and his two sons, aged 12 and 15, received their citizenship in a ceremony on November 9. His colleagues and the people who supported him attended. “I was so relieved,” he told The Saturday Paper. “It was a nightmare. I am glad it’s over. The whole purpose of this exercise was to torture me.”

Hazara refugee Nabi Zaher’s citizenship fightWritten by: Abdul Karim Hekmat

Republished from: The Saturday Paper http://bit.ly/2lHyZU6

While I was preparing to present my PhD proposal, this took over everything else. I was basically fighting whether I could remain in the country.

Nabi Zaher is the founder of Star Educational Society and was the chairman of all branches for many years. This is the story of his case as a Hazara refugee whose Australian citizenship was arbitrari-ly delayed and vexatiously questioned which serves to highlight the Department of Immigration’s continued administrative bungling.

Abdul Karim Hekmat

Page 7March 11th, 2017

Vol.2, No. 68Literary

StoriesMy Grandmother

Told Me

75

About the author: Hadi Zaher was the first graduate of Quetta's branch of Star Educational Society in the year 1999. He has an MA from the University of Wollongong in Australia and is currently a post-graduate student at the University of New South Wales.

Martín Espada was born in 1957 in Brooklyn, New York into a politically active Puerto-Rican family, often taking part in local community causes and the Civil Rights Movement. He published his first book of poetry, The Immigrant Iceboy’s Bolero, in 1982. Since then, much of his work has been reflec-tive of social issues regarding Latino rights, the experiences of immigrants and the working class in the USA, as well as the repressive governments that many Central and South America Latinos have faced. In addition to being an attorney and an award-winning poet, he is a professor of English at the Univer-sity of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Our tiny village is on a mountain slope. At the time we lived there, the land barely produced enough food to feed the families. Today, it cannot even feed the few families that still live there. What difference does it make any-

ways! Most of the families have moved out, and many have even left the country. Those left behind do not even have enough drinking water for most of the year.

Bachay Haji Ghulai [Haji Ghulai’s son] said that a long time ago the people of Haydar lived on that land. Your great grandfathers, perhaps those before them were powerful and forcefully took over the area. I do not know what happened to the people of Haydar who lived here. Perhaps they fled past the pass where they now live, and where your auntie lives. I do not know.

Bachay Haji Ghulai said that your ancestors took over this land by force. The old ruins in by the stream in Sa-raw and another one by the ridge in Qolbili are all that re-mains of the people before us. Your ancestors came from Sangemasha, the grandparents of AbdurRahim had land in Tabqus and elsewhere. I do not know where the others came from.

It belonged to Haydar, then it was our home, and now only the old and very young live there. Perhaps complete strangers will own it in the future.

In the republic of poetry,a train full of poetsrolls south in the rainas plum trees rockand horses kick the air,and village bandsparade down the aislewith trumpets, with bowler hats,followed by the presidentof the republic,shaking every hand.

In the republic of poetry,monks print verses about the nighton boxes of monastery chocolate,kitchens in restaurantsuse odes for recipesfrom eel to artichoke,and poets eat for free.

In the republic of poetry,poets read to the baboonsat the zoo, and all the primates,poets and baboons alike,

scream for joy.

In the republic of poetry,poets rent a helicopterto bombard the national palacewith poems on bookmarks,and everyone in the courtyardrushes to grab a poemfluttering from the sky,blinded by weeping.

In the republic of poetry,the guard at the airportwill not allow you to leave

the countryuntil you declaim a poem for herand she says Ah! Beautiful.

The Republic of PoetryFor Chile

Hazara, is also being discriminated.

Please briefly describe the records of the Enlightenment Movement? On April 30th, when the government, without having a specific reason and contrary to the Energy Master Plan, rerouted the 500 KV power line from Bamyan to Salang, the people pro-tested. Thereafter, the demonstrations have been launched in Kabul, other provinces and foreign countries and the movement is currently in the phase of civil disobedience.

Why has this movement been called the Enlightenment Movement? The protest first started with the electricity project and then continued fighting in several dimen-sions toward justice. Justice enlightens. Most of the members of the movement are educated. Discrimination darkens and the movement is fighting with it. That is why it is called the Enlightenment Movement.

What are the future plans of the Enlight-enment Movement? The Enlightenment Movement has repeatedly stated that it will fight until elimination of the discrimina-tion.

Is the Enlightenment Movement a party? Is this movement going to be a party in the future? Is it organized like a party? The movement is not a party and I don’t think it will become a party in the future. It is run as a council but overall it should become more organized.

What do you think of the tragic events on July 23rd and what is your message for the families of those who were martyred? July 23rd was a tragic and terrible day for me because I was only a few meters away from the explosion. Everywhere was covered in blood and flesh. I saw my friends’ and loved ones’ agony and death with my own eyes. The friends whom I worked with for several months were dying and I could do noth-ing to rescue them. After passing several months, I still can’t forget that fateful day to return to my normal life and its shadow is still on my life.

I can’t express my inner pain and the memory of that day in words but I feel the pain in all the moments of my life. And this pain doesn’t let me forget it.

Later, I and some other members of the supreme council of the Enlightenment Movement were responsible to distribute the financial assistance to the families of martyrs. Witnessing them weeping and wailing for their loved ones, I still hear their voic-es in my mind.

I personally have the message for each martyr’s family that we are and will be committed to the promise we made on July 22nd, the promise that we demonstrated for on July 23rd. We will fight for our

Saturday, March 11, 2017 Vol. 2, No. 68

promise which is indeed justice and equal-ity. Our desire is ingrained with your young martyrs’ blood. And we will not stop fight-ing for it until we get what we want even if one day of our life is left.

To fulfill martyrs’ aspirations which are indeed justice and equality, how will the Enlightenment Movement maintain its relationship with the people? The relation-ship between people and the Enlighten-ment Movement is a two-way relationship. People work with the movement voluntarily and with a sense of responsibility. Not for the sake of formality and leader relation-ships. And definitely that is why the move-ment is dynamic and energetic.

“Our pain is discrimination not electric-ity” was one of your slogans. What do you mean by this? “Our pain is discrimination not electricity” means that the movement’s main purpose is to combat against discrim-ination generally and it is not just limited to the power project.

What is the message of the Enlightenment Movement? What do you want to say to our readers? The Enlightenment Move-ment’s message has always been clear that we must not get accustomed to discrimi-nation. We must not accept being in lower grades all the time. We must try to rewrite our destiny. And I myself have no message other than the movement’s message. The Enlightenment Movement is my life and ambition.

and capable group and to make them the main base of support rather than to oppose them. It is not too difficult if the govern-ment accepts the reality.

In other words the Enlightenment Movement is a grassroots movement. Wide and sporadic with the same amount or in other words dynamic and energetic.

What is the purpose of the Enlighten-ment Movement? The main purpose of the movement is to combat systematic dis-crimination. There are masses of people who are discriminated in Afghanistan. The women are the most important and the big-gest group that is being discriminated. Eth-nic minorities such as, Balooch, Nooristani, Turkman, and other small tribes. And in the meantime, specifically, a larger tribe, called

Could you please introduce yourself and tell us about your role in the Enlighten-ment Movement? I am a member of the supreme council of the Enlightenment Movement. My name is Laila Mohammadi. I was born in Iran and finished my stud-ies there. After returning to Afghanistan, I started working for educational institutions as a teacher in the suburbs of Daikundi Province. Last year I was a candidate for the provincial council election of Diakundi Province. It has been three years now since I have an institution that works in the field of women’s capacity building. I am of the opinion that only if women are educated and have economic independence, they can have a better life.

Could you please define the Enlighten-ment Movement? The Enlightenment Movement was formed in response to a need – the need of the Afghan society to change in different levels, the need that could lead Afghanistan to a new stage if it was taken seriously by the government and political leaders.

The part of the community that sup-ports the movement has some desires and demands. And they consider asking for and obtaining these demands and desires as their rights.

The awareness of this generation would be expressed in another way if it wasn’t shown in the Enlightenment Movement or Tabassum Movement.

For now, the best move for the govern-ment is to accept the demands of an aware

About the interviewer: Masooma Jafari is an alumna and teacher at Star Education-al Society. She earned her Pharmacy degree from Kabul University and is currently do-ing an internship at the Ministry of Women Affairs. She is a current Fulbright finalist and will begin her master’s degree in Public Health in August.

Committed to the promise of justice and equality

Interview with Laila Mohammadi, Enlightenment Movement Supreme Council Member

Website: http://www.star.edu.af Email: interstellarbulletin@gmail.com

Editor-in-Chief: Ali Reza YasaEditors: Kara Lozier, Jonathan Greenburg and Murtaza FarjadDesigner: Musa AutbinDistribution: Najibullah Malikpoor 0785103920

C Branch: Jafar Musafer 0708457453B Branch: Rahmat Doorandish 0787372650Bamyan: Essa Omid 0773609598Daikundi: Qasem Karimi 0771117721Ghazni: Essa Jamal 0787126362

Add: Star Avenue, Sabiqa Stop, Dehburi, Kabul.A Branch Phone: +93 (0) 785 10 39 20 / +93 (0) 744 56 37 55

We will fight for our promise which is indeed justice and equality. And we will not stop fighting for it un-til we get what we want.