Afghan head of women's affairs dead ...

Monday, Sep 25, 2006
Gunmen kill director of women's affairs in southern Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Two gunmen on a motorbike killed the provincial director of Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs outside her home Monday in apparent retribution for her efforts to help educate women, officials said.

Safia Ahmed-jan was slain outside the front gate of her home in this southern Afghan city as she was walking to her office, said Tawfiq ul-Ulhakim Parant, senior adviser to the women's ministry in Kabul.

Aleem Sidique, spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said the UN was "appalled at this senseless murder."

"What we need to see in Afghanistan is peace, development and progress," Sidique said. "We share the sentiment of the majority of Afghan people who are appalled at this killing."

SOURCE

See also:

Safia Ana Jan, head of the women's affairs department in the province of Kandahar, was killed by armed men on motorbikes as she got into her car outside her home on Monday, her nephew said.

A Taliban commander, Mullah Hayat Khan, said Ama Jan was killed because she worked for the government.

"We have told people time and time again that anyone working for the government - including women - will be killed," Khan said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

SOURCE

Very sad day regardless of your take on the happenings in Afghanistan.

I found it interesting that one media source explains only that she was killed, and that she had spearheaded many programs for women in Afghanistan to become self employed and to help educate them.

The second source mentions the little detail of "why" she was killed.

And still this from the dreaded CNN...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- Gunmen riding motorcycles shot dead the head of a women's department in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Monday, a security official and a relative said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting of Safia Ama Jan. Taliban insurgents have killed numerous government officials as part of their war against the government and foreign forces supporting it.

Ama Jan was on her way to work, getting into a car outside her house, when the gunmen struck, said her nephew, who identified himself as just Farhad.

"She died on the spot," he told reporters.

Farhad declined to speculate on the identity or motive of the gunmen, except to say: "We had no personal enmity with anyone."

SOURCE


So the AP reports center on the woman herself more than the death of her.
aljazeera quotes a "taliban" source.
CNN offers a vague, and amazingly short blurb about her.

The media seems so fractured these days, and it scares me to think that the majority of people will hear a story as sad as this from say CNN...as a blurb, and think nothing more about it unless CNN does.

It goes to show you that, while this is the death of just woman...she may well fade into obscurity depending on how you hear about the story and from what source.

Will CNN have more coverage? Well we'll see.

See also this same story on CBC.ca

A spokesman for the United Nations said he was "appalled at this senseless murder."

"What we need to see in Afghanistan is peace, development and progress," said Aleem Sidique of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

"We share the sentiment of the majority of Afghan people who are appalled at this killing."

More than 2,000 Canadian soldiers are part of a NATO-led force serving in Afghanistan. The Canadians mostly work in the violent southern Kandahar region, where they are leading NATO troops in the Taliban militant stronghold.

SOURCE


I'm just putting it out there...get a variety of takes on each story you uncover or read, taking info from just one source (please don't let it be ONLY cnn) can lead to a skewed idea of what's really going on.

The stories that are covered in one media market, may omit things they feel are not as "marketable" to the public. They may add a spin onto it to create a certain sentiment.

If this story demonstrates anything, aside from the fact that a woman lost her life, let emonstrate the subtle differences in the media's presentation of events that take place.

Sorry, this just sort of erked me this morning...there are other sources for the story still and while each are consistent with reporting the death, each omit, or add their own bit...

MODS if this sin't belonging here feel free to move it...was in a hurry this morning and...well...

it is relative to the forum...

get more sources of info and build a bigger picture than the one presented based on marketing and target audiences. That's my point.

Here's another link with some more details. She was known as "dearest aunty". What's her real name? Safia Ahmed-jan, Safia Ana Jan or Safia Hama Jan? There appears to be several different versions in these articles...

Now what I want to know...why can't the media be whole?

The more sources for a story, the better we understand it and can make up our own minds...

I think I just answered my own question LOL

Anyway, this is just one story...one woman...one afghani...

how many other stories do we take for granted and assume they are being reported in their fullest?

thanks for that link.



This lady will be on my mind all day.