Word: aman
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...back to the gate, having lost Aman in the sea of panicking black robes. More explosions, more tear gas. And the gunshots begin. First from the mosque, then in retaliation from the rangers. We are caught in a narrow corridor, bullets slicing through the thick smoke on either side of us. Another canister of tear gas rolls past my feet, spewing cottony clouds that claw at my eyes and tear at my lungs. My sweat, picking up gas particles clinging to my clothes, burns my skin. Someone from the second floor above the gate pours a bucket of water...
...firing slows, and Hassan strides into the courtyard triumphant. "Good news," she announces. "Our boys stole four guns from the rangers." The atmosphere is electric. Aman's headscarf and robe are dripping with water. I realize that the head-to-toe shrouds serve another purpose: sopping wet, they provide excellent protection against tear gas. Aman's eyes, though bloodshot, are exultant. "We are students, not fighters, but if the government pushes us to fight, so be it," she says. "God will give us the power to win." I ask if she is afraid. "We are not frightened," she says...
...rangers. Inside, women fill buckets of water at the tap and pass them, fireman style, out the gate to the men. They hurl bamboo staves, broom handles and water bottles over the complex wall. The bottles return, empty, and the women fill them up again and toss them back. Aman disappears out the gate. "I will do everything in my power to protect my madrasah," she says. "I am ready to die for it." An hour later I find her again, pressing a wet rag to her streaming eyes. "I wanted to die, but my elders stopped me." Friends, crowding...
...began quietly. I was on hand to interview the headmistress of the women's madrasah and got into a discussion with her translator, Umma Aman, 22, a pretty seminary student. Aman talked about the source of the students' anger, saying that if the government wouldn't cleanse the capital of sin, they would. "A man goes to medical school and becomes a doctor," says Aman. "We go to a madrasah, so we must practice Islam. We must act on God's will...
...Come on. We are going out to protest," says Aman. I recognize her only by the glasses on the outside of her burqa mask. I follow her outside, where a hundred or so black-robed women chant in unison against Musharraf and his ally President George W. Bush. There's a crack, a small explosion, and then a cloud of acrid tear gas drifts our way. I run back to the gate, losing Aman in a sea of panicking black robes. More explosions, more tear gas. And then gunshots--first from the mosque, then in retaliation from the rangers...