Kabul, Afghanistan – The Taliban authorities on Saturday ordered all overseas and home non-governmental teams in Afghanistan to droop using ladies, allegedly as a result of some feminine workers didn’t put on the Islamic scarf accurately. The ban was the most recent restrictive transfer by Afghanistan’s new rulers towards ladies’s rights and freedoms.
The order got here in a letter from Economic system Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif, which mentioned that any NGO discovered not complying with the order may have their working license revoked in Afghanistan. The letter’s content material was confirmed to The Related Press by the ministry’s spokesman, Abdul Rahman Habib.
The ministry mentioned it had obtained “severe complaints” about feminine workers working for NGOs not sporting the “right” scarf, or hijab. It was not instantly clear if the order applies to all ladies or solely Afghan ladies working on the NGOs.
Extra particulars weren’t instantly accessible on the most recent Taliban ban amid issues that it might be a stepping-stone to extra restrictive measures towards ladies in Afghanistan.
Additionally Saturday, Taliban safety forces used a water cannon to disperse ladies protesting the ban on college schooling for ladies within the western metropolis of Herat, eyewitnesses mentioned. The Taliban rulers on Tuesday banned feminine college students from attending universities efficient instantly.
Afghan ladies have since demonstrated in main cities towards the ban, a uncommon signal of home protest for the reason that Taliban seized energy final yr. The choice has additionally induced outrage and opposition in Afghanistan and past.
In response to eyewitnesses in Herat, about two dozen ladies had been heading to the provincial governor’s home Saturday to protest the ban, chanting: “Training is our proper,” once they had been pushed again by safety forces firing the water cannon.
Video shared with the AP reveals the ladies screaming and hiding in a aspect avenue to flee the water cannon. They then resume their protest, with chants of “Disgraceful!”
One of many protest organizers, Maryam, mentioned between 100 and 150 ladies took half within the protest, transferring in small teams from totally different components of town towards a central assembly level. She didn’t give her final title for worry of reprisals.
“There was safety on each avenue, each sq., armored automobiles and armed males,” she mentioned. “After we began our protest, in Tariqi Park, the Taliban took branches from the timber and beat us. However we continued our protest. They elevated their safety presence. Round 11 a.m. they introduced out the water cannon.”
There was widespread worldwide condemnation of the college ban, together with from Muslim-majority nations akin to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, in addition to warnings from america and the G-7 group of main industrial nations that the coverage may have penalties for the Taliban.
An official within the Taliban authorities, Minister of Increased Training Nida Mohammad Nadim, spoke in regards to the ban for the primary time on Thursday in an interview with the Afghan state tv.
He mentioned the ban was needed to stop the blending of genders in universities and since he believes some topics being taught violated the ideas of Islam. He additionally added the ban can be in place till additional discover.
Regardless of initially promising a extra reasonable rule respecting rights for ladies and minorities, the Taliban have broadly applied their interpretation of Islamic regulation, or Sharia, since they seized energy in August 2021.
They’ve banned women from center faculty and highschool – and now universities – and likewise barred ladies from most fields of employment. Ladies have additionally been ordered to put on head-to-toe clothes in public and have been banned from parks and gymnasiums.
The Afghan society, whereas largely conventional, had more and more embraced the schooling of women and girls over the previous twenty years of a U.S.-backed authorities.
Within the southwestern Pakistani metropolis of Quetta, dozens of Afghan refugee college students protested on Saturday towards the ban on feminine increased schooling of their homeland and demanded the quick reopening of campuses for ladies.
One among them, Bibi Haseena, learn a poem depicting the grim scenario for Afghan women in search of an schooling. She mentioned was sad about graduating exterior her nation when tons of of 1000’s of her Afghan sisters had been being disadvantaged of an schooling.