More than six years have passed since she last saw her husband and,even now,she struggles to tell what she believes to be the story - as recounted to her by Darwan villagers - of how her husband died. His hands were bound;he was led to the edge of a small cliff;he was kicked off the edge. Then,bloodied and in pain,he was executed.
The Age,the Heraldand 60 Minutesrevealed over the weekend that the federal police has collected eyewitness accounts from SAS insiders and Afghans about Ali Jan’s death. They corroborate the allegations relayed to Bibi. But Bibi is still waiting for Australian officials to determine the true sequences of events.
She may not have seen what happened to her husband. But she remembers clearly the last time she saw Ali Jan alive. He took her orders for shoes for his six children:Guldasta,8,Sharifa,7,Sidiqa,4,Muzdalifa,3,and their two babies,Mohmmadullah and Nematullah. She remembers him telling her to tend to their plot of land while he was gone. She remembers how Ali Jan then turned to face her and wished her goodbye.
She also remembers dashing,many hours later,down the rocky path towards Darwan,retracing Ali Jan’s last steps,until she was finally convinced by relatives to turn back home. It was too late,they told her.
She remembers seeing blood on the floor of her hut and realising she’d badly cut her feet while running but had not noticed the pain. She was pregnant at the time with her seventh child,a girl who would never meet her father.
There are other people who remember Ali Jan’s last minutes alive. These are big men from distant continents who visited his neighbourhood wearing camouflaged clothing bearing a small badge of the Australian flag,and the winged-sword insignia of the SAS.
Bibi wants the Australian government to tell her how and why her husband died.
“I want justice because I have been widowed ... my children are now helpless,” she says.
She says life without the family’s breadwinner is hard. Her children do not go to school and often go without food or proper clothes. Seven years later,she is still in mourning,clinging to old memories. In her interview,she recalled Ali Jan’s donkey,led by a relative,returning home after his death.
The shoes Ali Jan had promised to buy for his children were still strapped to the animal's side.
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