KABUL (PAN): The second-vice president Muhammad Karim Khalili has called for severe punishment for those commit violence against women in Afghanistan.

Addressing a special gathering of women on the eve of International Women's Day on Sunday, Khalili said violence against women was un-Islamic and unconstitutional. "We can prevent such cruel activities by awarding severe punishment to those found involved," Khalili remarked.

Worried about the increasing violence against women in the country, the vice-president urged the justice ministry and judicial and security organs not to spare the perpetrators.  "No one should be spared whether they are brothers, father or any other family members of the victims," he added.

The March 8 is internationally celebrated as the Day of Women since early 1900s.

In Afghanistan, the incidents of violence against women have doubled as compared to the last year.

According to Women Affairs Ministry, 100 cases of self-immolation and 50 of suicides registered with the ministry over the past nine months of the outgoing solar year. Last year, a total of 35 cases of self-immolation and 30 suicidal were registered.

Based on reports of the Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in 2009, 119 cases of self-immolation and 23 suicides were registered with the organisation. In 2008 the numbers of the self immolation cases rose to 84 and the suicides to 33, the reports have said.

The officials concerned believe the reasons of such cases are beatings, forced marriages and other forms of violence against women.

Khalili assured the women that the government would make every effort for the promotion of their educational, political and legal status.

The gathering was also addressed by the AIHRC director Sima Samar, who linked the causes of violence against women to the non-implementation of the constitution.

She said some powerful people with no respect for the constitution were involved in the violence against women.

She also criticised the government for its hesitation to appoint women on high posts, saying the unemployed women had no support from the government.

Fatana Gilani, who heads the Afghan Women Association, questioned: "If the women are faced with numerous problems in Kabul which is the central capital, what would be their situation in other parts of the country."

frm/ma