Intellectuals condemn killing of Indian author in Afghanistan

It is not only barbaric but also uncivilised, they said

Condemning the killing of Indian author Sushmita Banerjee in Afghanistan by militants, intellectuals here said by her assassination Taliban cannot suppress the voice of the oppressed women in that country.

"It is not only barbaric but also uncivilised. The killing proves that the development work that Sushmita was doing for the upliftment of Afghan women was not liked by the Taliban, so they killed her.

"But by killing her, they have made Sushmita a martyr, whose work will encourage other women in the region to fight against oppression," author Sirshendu Mukhopadhaya said.

Eminent author Suchitra Bhattacharya said Banerjee's writings will influence future generations of Afghanistan to fight against Taliban.

"If they think that that by killing Sushmita then can suppress the voice of women. Then they are wrong, her writings and works will influence future generations of Afghanistan to fight against Taliban," she said.

"She had written only one book but I always felt that the kind of experiences she had in Afghanistan would fed her with first hand experiences of writing many books about Afghanistan. It is really a sad day for the entire literary world," writer Subodh Sarkar said.

49-year-old Banerjee was was shot dead outside her home in Paktika province last night. She was married to Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan and recently moved back to Afghanistan to live with him.

Taliban militants arrived at her home in the provincial capital of Kharana, tied up her husband and other members of the family, took Banerjee out and shot her, police were quoted as saying by BBC.

The militants dumped Banerjee's bullet-riddled body near a religious school, where it was found this morning.

A senior police official said Banerjee, also known as Sayed Kamala, was working as a health worker in Paktika and had been filming the lives of local women as part of her work.