(Ottawa) MPs from all five parties represented in Ottawa are calling on the Canadian government to rescue former Afghan MPs who are still “trapped” in Kabul.
Kabul police announced on Sunday that former Afghan MP Mursal Nabizada and her bodyguard were shot and killed by unidentified gunmen.
Mme Nabizada was among the few female parliamentarians who remained in the Afghan capital after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
Six Canadian MPs say in a joint statement that they have worked together since last October to bring to Canada “the nine Afghan parliamentarians still trapped” in their country – there are now eight left.
Canadian MPs, from the five parties represented in the Commons, believe that the situation “is becoming more dangerous day by day” in Afghanistan and that the Taliban, with a “violent system of apartheid”, now control all aspects of the lives of women and girls in this country.
Members believe that as Canada participated in efforts to encourage and mentor women parliamentarians in Afghanistan, it now has a moral responsibility to help these women.
“For the sake of the lives of these eight women, we urge the Canadian government to take urgent action on this file and to take immediate action to help bring these women to safety,” the Canadian MPs wrote in their statement. joint statement.
The group includes MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois, Elizabeth May of the Green Party, New Democrat Heather McPherson, Conservative Alex Ruff and Liberals Marcus Powlowski and Leah Taylor Roy.
In their joint statement, they say that under the Taliban regime, no woman is safe in Afghanistan. “But it is especially true for those brave women parliamentarians who paved the way for access to public and civic space for women and girls under the previous Afghan government. »
Mursal Nabizada was elected in 2019 MP for Kabul, a position she retained until the Taliban took power in August 2021.
Mme Nabizada had been a member of the Parliamentary Defense Committee and she worked in a private non-governmental organization, the Human Resources Research and Development Institute.
Local police chief Molvi Hamidullah Khalid said at the weekend that investigations into his death were ongoing. He did not respond to questions about the possible motive for his assassination.
With information from The Associated Press