By: Adila Azin
Translated By: Mohammad Sakhi Rezaie
A library, named after Kaaj, was inaugurated on 8 November 2022, to commemorate the 40th day of the deadly suicide attack on Kaaj Educational Center. The participants after inaugurating the library lightened candles to honor the victims of the terrorist attack on Kaaj.
Khalid Nora, founder of the library, along with some other of his friends and colleagues, initiated to open a library to be named after Kaaj victims in Kabul and they started collecting books from Kabul, Mazar e Sharif and Herat.
The camping for collecting books started from Mazar e Sahrif, and lasted for 10 days. During this period, different books on theoretical and practical sciences were collected. During this period, the campaign for collecting books was started in Kabul and Herat. In addition to this, many cultural activist donated books to the library as well.
Khlid Nora, mentions increasing the quality of reading books by the citizens as the main motive for opening this library. “This library is opened to increase the quality of reading books by the citizens, and keeping alive the memory of Kaaj martyrs and providing access to good books for those who are not able to buy books.” He stated.
“Kajj small library provides a number of good books on theoretical and practical sciences to realize the high dream of Kaaj students who were martyred in order to show the way and path of the new generation better.” He added.
The library has a friendly environment and a flower pot has been allocated for each victim of Kaaj student. In one of the flower pots, a picture of Marzia, one of the victims of the terrorist attack on Kaaj, is placed. Khalid Nora says Marzia loved books and she loved Elif Shafak’s books, the well known Turkish writer, more than other writers. As a result, Marzia’s picture is placed beside Elif Shafak books.
In the Arts section, Najiba’s picture is placed beside her paintings and books. She painted and loved arts.
Kaaj library has more than 3,000 books on different theoretical and practical sciences. These books include literature, poetry, novel, critics, philosophy, natural sciences, theoretical sciences, arts, painting, film, photography, art history, handicrafts, children, history, and mysticism. The library is open for all school and university students, and book lovers every day and they have access to the books and space of the library. According to Nora, customers of Kaaj library include children, youth, youngsters, and even adults who come to the library to study or borrow books.
On September 30, 2022, a suicide bomber carried out an attack on the Kaaj Educational Center in Kabul. They first opened fire on students and then went off themselves in a large classroom where the preparatory entrance exam was planned to be taken.
Kaaj Educational Center has more students than other centers in west of Kabul and many of its students pass successfully the annual exam with high grades and are admitted to the public universities of Afghanistan. Suicide attackers attacked on Kaaj just 11 days left to the entrance exam killing about 60 and injuring more than 110 students. And most of the victims were girl students.
According to the National Authority for exams, this year no girl is among the top 10 students while in the former years, beside the top student, many other girls were among the top 10 students as well. A number of social media users believe killing elite girl students in Kaaj attack and its mental consequences reduced the motivation of the girls in education, a situation which under the Taliban rule, is limiting girls and women’s basic rights increasingly in the country.
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