It
was a windy dark night. Things could hardly be seen as I was riding my bike to
one of my friend’s house. There was no
reason going to his place in that late evening other than to borrow the Titanic
movie which was just released that year.
There was neither shop nor any other places where someone could buy or
rent movies in the country. The country,
by then, was ruled by the ferocious regime of Taliban. While riding bike in the
evening, there was no less chances of not to be stopped by the Taliban, and
therefore I made sure to be ready to trick them in case if I was stopped for
search. I had a metal box of oil tied to the backside of my bike. It was looking as new and heavy as if it was
full of oil. Once getting those movies, I
would place them into that box before heading back for my destination. I was in my late teenage years, so I would
take any risk to watch that movie as I had heard so much about it.
I,
also, had to travel to Pakistan so frequently to connect with my father who escaped
the Taliban and was working in Russia to support our family. Pakistan, for me
and to so many other Afghans, was a totally different world. Once crossing the
border, the sound of music, mostly Pashto and Indian, could be echoed all over.
Similarly, while being on the other side of the border, there was no fear of
wearing my hat [wearing hat to cover the hair was compulsory for all men under
the Taliban and so does growing beard] or being afraid of having a shorter
beard. But the only thing that was
really scary was the Paki police. They
could rob you in the middle of the day for no reason. The law enforcement personals were and still
are so corrupt that they would let criminals, even murders, to walk away so
easily as long as they were paid. During all my travels for the 6 years to that
country, I once was stopped by the police. Despite the fact that I knew I was
supposed to be paying them in order to walk away, I was not sure if it was
really appropriate to pay someone who was wearing the law enforcement personals’
uniform. Nonetheless, I did settle by paying them 100 Pakistan Rupees which was
equal to $ 1.4 by then.
When
looking for news, I came across an article that was published by the “Independent”
about the execution of people, who allegedly watched foreign movies, in North
Korea; and all the sudden my memories of living under the Taliban regime, once
again, have taken my mind over. 80 people, in different parts of the country,
were executed by the brutal regime of Kim Il-sung for nothing but watching movies
to entertain themselves. Back to my own experience of dealing with the circumstances
under the Taliban regime, if had been caught up with those movies I carried, I would
have not been killed but the effects of being so brutally beaten up would have still
affected me so much. Taking into account my experience of living under, almost,
similar regime to the one who has been ruling North Korea for decades, I can
simply imagine peoples’ situation living there.
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