JALALABAD: A protest march in the eastern Afghan town of Jalalabad has demanded that a recently suspended female MP be reinstated. Around 200 people, half of them women wearing Burqas, marched to the United Nations office in Jalalabad on Friday, expressing anger at the suspension of Malalai Joya, the country's outspoken female parliamentary member, AFP reported. The 28 year old legislator had enraged her colleagues by publicly comparing the parliament to a stable, saying a stable is far better because there "you have at least cows which provide milk and you have got donkeys which can carry loads."
A majority of her colleagues found Joya guilty of violating article 70 of the Afghan legislature's rules of procedure, which forbids lawmakers from criticizing one another. Her specific charge was announced to be "insulting the institution of parliament".
The high-profile Afghan politician has been suspended until the end of her parliamentary term before the 2010 elections.
Protestors say the parliament is not entitled to suspend an MP because she was elected by her constituency in the western province of Farah.
The Jalalabad rally follows similar protests staged Thursday in Farah.
Leading international rights watchdog Human Rights Watch, said Thursday that although Parliament's rule forbid law-makers from criticizing one another, MPs had regularly done so with impunity in the past.
"Joya's comments don't warrant the punishment she received," Brad Adams, the rights watchdog's Asia director said in a statement.
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