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TALOQAN (SW): Many children and young boys like Farid and Mohammad Reza of Takhar province remain vulnerable to the malicious practice of ‘Bacha Bazi’ in various parts of the country.
‘Bacha Bazi’, literally "boy play" is a slang term in Afghanistan for a wide variety of activities involving sexual relations between older men and younger adolescent men, or boys that sometimes includes child sexual abuse. The victim of “Bacha Bazi” is called “bach bey rish” (boys without beard) while the abuser is called “bacha baz or kaata”. As long as the victim serves the ‘purpose’, all the expenses are managed by the Kaata.
“When I was 15-year-old, local warlords used to take me to their parties in our village by force. They used to make me wear soft and transparent female clothes. They used to make me dance all night long”, says Farid, a victim of “Bacha Bazi”.
Farid eventually managed to run away to neighboring Iran. But, when he returned back to his village after two years, armed men surrounded his house and took him back to dance parties. Farid fears that the number of boys providing sexual services to the warlords is very big in Takhar.
Amanullah, former chief of Baharak district in Takhar province, is the man who abused Farid. Farid said the abuser was armed, and had security personnel at his disposal. According to this victim, the warlord had abused two other boys as well at the time when he was being abused.
Salam Watandar reporter wished to talk to Amanullah, but to no avail.
Mohammad Reza, another 16-year-old victim of Bacha Bazi, is transported from Faryab to Kabul and from there to Takhar. He was trapped in the name of a ‘decent job’, but forced to provide sexual pleasure to armed men in Taloqan.
This is not the end of his painful journey. A man named Bahram is pimping him out to keep the Bacha Bazi parties going on from one district to another. Like any pimps, according to Reza, Bahram has molested him too. Reza has been apprehended twice by police, but, Bashir, a warlord managed to bail him out.
Sanatullah Timor, provincial governor’s spokesman, said the infamous ‘Bacha Bazi’ is very much common in Yangi-Qala and Rustaq districts to the extent that even police officers and other authorities are involved in the practice.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) regarding “Bacha Bazi” in a research paper indicated “men keep boys aged between 10 to 18 years old for sexual abuse and dancing”.
General Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani, provincial police chief, talking to Salam Watandar confessed some policemen do practice “Bacha Bazi”, but mostly warlords are involved in it. Karim Danish, a civil society activist in the province, said despite several protests by activists against it, the government seems unable to eradicate the menace of “Bacha Bazi”.
ENDS
