Phone harassment
Written by: Sameera Haleemzai
According to the information provided by the ministry of information technology of Afghanistan, about 23 million sim cards are distributed in this country. Some mobile users misuse their sim cards and harass others, especially females.
AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some people about this issue.
Raihana, a resident of Ahmad Shah Baba Mena says: “A boy was always harassing me through my cellphone. He tells me that he knows me and has seen my house too and wanted me to talk to him. When I gave my phone to my brother to talk to that person but unfortunately, my family had doubt that I have a bad relationship with him. my brother broke my cellphone and my family lost confidence in me.”
Robeena, a resident of Qarabagh district, Kabul province says: “I am engaged to a boy but someone always harasses me. One day I was talking to the annoying person and was telling him that I am engaged to a boy and asked him not to annoy me anymore. Meanwhile, my fiancé came and he scolded me for talking with other boys.”
What do people think about the causes of phone harassment?
Zhanda Nida, a resident of Maidan-Wardak province says: “those who harass girls and women through a cellphone, are not well-educated and nor well-trained by their families. They are all depraved and their families are responsible to control their children. The second reason could be the unemployment of youths.”
Another resident of Maidan-Wardak province says: “I wanted to have fun and pass my time; therefore, I was always harassing girls but I did not know how much I was bothering them.”
Ahmad Naweed, a resident of Kabul city says: “while a girl creates her social media account, she forgets to delete her phone number from her account, some boys might misuse it.”
How could people solve this issue?
Zhanda Nida says: “at first, we should ask them not to harass us. In the second step we should give those numbers to our family’s male members to convince them and if it doesn’t work, we should change our sim cards.”
Zuhal, a resident of Kabul city says: “I never leave my phone number in social media and if someone wants to harass me, I call to related communication company and they block my wanted number.”
Mr. Ruhollah, a professor at Islamic religious faculty, Kabul university says: “Islam bans on every kind of harassment. Our prophet Muhammad (PBUH) says in a Hadis that there is no place for verbal and physical harassment in Islam.”