Before the onset of Soviet Communism in Tajikistan, many Tajik women in the north of what is today Tajikistan wore heavy viels known as faranja and chachvan, much like the Afghan burqa of today. Communism quickly put and end to that. Tragically, some women were victims of fatal violence perpetrated by men who were upset at the change in the status quo.

Perhaps these women looking down on the village of Namadgut bear silent witness to the horrors of violence against women and girls.