Soraya Parlika

Two things stand out about Soraya Parlika, a politician and women’s rights activist from Afghanistan who died on December 20, 2019 at the age of 75.

First, she never left her country. Even during the dark days of the Taliban when many who could did go, she said, “How could I have born leaving the Afghan women and only returned when they would be better? How could I have then talked with them with my head held high, looked into their eyes and discussed their problems and suffering as I do today?” 

Second, her name was not Parlika. She changed it to Parlika, which has no meaning in the two primary languages of Afghanistan, Dari and Pashto. She was known only as Parlika for many years because she was concerned that too many women had the name Soraya and she didn’t want anyone to be in danger or mistakenly killed because she had the same name as her. 

Time Magazine featured her in 2001: “Soraya Parlika didn’t have to run secret schools for young women when the Taliban ruled Kabul. She didn’t have to open her home for meetings on women’s rights in a place that spat on the concept. She is, after all, the daughter of wealthy parents, the sister of a former Foreign Minister, a university graduate; she could have fled to the West long ago. But her parents always told her to care about the poor, and Afghanistan’s women are among the poorest.” 

A Pashtun born in Kamari, just outside of Kabul, in 1944, her father was a high ranking official during the monarchy. 

“My mother, mainly, often said that not all Afghans lived as comfortably as we did. That motivated me to engage politically. I always carried this unconsciously in my mind,” Parlika said. 

Parlika got a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree in International Economic Relations in Kiev, Ukraine. 

Explaining her reasons for studying economics and later working in the international relations office at Kabul University, Parlika said, “The economy is the basis of each society. Only a solid economic situation allows a society’s development and political change.”

Parlika and her brother were early members of the PDPA (People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan). Instrumental in changing the pregnancy leave period for women and in advocating to establish kindergartens at work places, Parlika was among the founding members of DWOA (Democratic Women’s Organization of Afghanistan) which supported female victims of domestic violence, organized literacy courses, and assisted women in finding work. 

Outspoken, she was imprisoned in 1978. She said, “They took every opportunity [to torture me] by burning me with cigarette butts, pulling out my nails and burning part of [my] body. I still bear the scars from the burns.”

When Parlika was released eighteen months later after a bloody coup changed the leadership of the government, she became the head of the women’s section of the communist PDPA. 

Parlika established the Afghan Women’s Union, became the head of Afghanistan’s Red Crescent Society, and brought the International Red Cross into the country. 

When the Taliban fell in 2001, Parlika organized a walk for women in Kabul and said to her fellow marchers, “You have been imprisoned in your own homes, you have been beaten, you have been deprived of work and forced to beg, but you stood firm and you should be called heroes.” 

During an All Things Considered interview in 2005 in Kabul, Ivan Watson noted that Parlika was campaigning for political office in Afghanistan’s legislature and stated, “During a recent campaign trip, local religious leaders refused to allow Parlika to speak in a Saudi-built mosque on the outskirts of Kabul. Undaunted, she sat on the lawn of a bullet-scarred house nearby and addressed dozens of former army officers from the Communist regime.” Parlika added, “Within the past year, I’ve survived 10 attempts on my life, but I haven’t lost my courage. I don’t want anything for myself; I just want lawfulness to come to this country. I don’t want the power of the gun to rule Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani said, “I was saddened by the news of Suraya Parlika’s death. She has bravely fought for the rights of women in the last four decades.” He called her death a loss for the country and said she would be remembered among the heroic women of Afghanistan.        

A documentary titled Parlika was made of her life story by Sahraa Karimi. 

SOURCES

Ruttig, Thomas. “AAN Obituary: Unfaltering women’s rights activist Soraya Parlika (1944-2019).” January 15, 2020. Afghanistan Analysts Network. https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/aan-obituary-unfaltering-womens-rights-activist-soraya-parlika-1944-2019/

Lafferty, Elaine.  “The Advocate: Soraya Parlika.” Time Magazine. December 23, 2001. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1001582,00.html

Muhsini, Suhaila. “Profile: Suraya Parlika – Champion of Women’s Rights.” IWPR (Institute For War & Peace Reporting). ARR Issue 129. March 3, 2005. https://iwpr.net/global-voices/profile-suraya-parlika-champion-womens-rights

“Afghan Women Shed Their Burquas.” BBC News. November 20, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1666139.stm

Watson, Ivan. “Afghan Ballet Includes Taliban, Communists.” All Things Considered. NPR (National Public Radio). September 8, 2005. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4837968

“NUG Leaders Condole Death of Suraya Parlika.” Bakhtar News. December 22, 2019. http://www.bakhtarnews.com.af/eng/politics/item/41505-nug-leaders-condole-death-of-suraya-parlika.html