They do it in the name of religion. They believe, “their seven generations will burn in the hell if they allow her daughter to marry with a boy from Sunni sect.” This is what mullahs feed minds.

A beautiful woman is a girl who stands against a cruel community and culture to marry someone who is not in the same sect. She looks for humanity, not rubbish characteristics that Mullahs filled her family’s minds with. This beautiful woman is a courageous Afghan girl who her father takes to kill for the fault of loving someone and choosing her future man. And when her father tries to kill her, she sobs and just says, “Father, I love you, understand me! Don’t kill me for loving someone who is different from us.

There should be women who dare to take pictures and challenge Afghan male culture. I think everyone has a unique way of looking at things and we should not prevent women from exploring their visions. I do not think photography is a male job. I think art is without boundaries and gender should not limit it.

I wore my back veil because I thought it would be more acceptable to dress like a Muslim girl. I thought I could hide my camera under my veil. However my choice was a mistake.

Love is beautiful. It is the need of life. Of course it is not comparable to the love we have for God, but does not the poet say that from earthly love people achieve God’s love? Well, whatever, I like to be loved and love someone. A smile appears on my lips from all these thoughts, and I tell myself, “I am here for praying and not thinking of a future husband. Let me concentrate on God.”