Tag: Taliban

  • ‘We are not against education’, Taliban to open separate schools for girls

    ‘We are not against education’, Taliban to open separate schools for girls

    The Taliban has said that they hope to open all schools for girls and women across the country after March 21.

    Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson and deputy Culture and Information Minister of Afghanistan said girls and boys must be completely segregated in schools. According to him, the biggest obstacle so far has been finding enough space where girls could stay while going to school. In heavily populated areas, there is not enough space to have separate classrooms for boys and girls.

    “We are not against education,” Mujahid stressed while talking to Associated Press (AP). He also said women are working in the health and education sector and at Kabul International Airport in customs and passport control. But didn’t comment that whether women would be allowed to return to work in government ministries.

    Since August, girls in most of Afghanistan have not been allowed back to school beyond grade 7. However, private universities in the capital Kabul are still operating.

    Earlier this month, the United Nations (UN) launched a $5 billion appeal for the war-torn country.

  • ‘Women cover up’: Taliban order new ban on Afghan women

    ‘Women cover up’: Taliban order new ban on Afghan women

    The Taliban’s religious police have put up posters around the capital Kabul ordering Afghan women to cover up, an official said on Friday, reports Dawn.

    The poster, which includes an image of the face-covering burqa, was slapped on cafes and shops this week by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

    “According to Sharia law, Muslim women must wear the hijab,” the poster reads, referring to the practice of covering up. A spokesman for the ministry, responsible for enforcing the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic law, confirmed on Friday that it was behind the orders.

    “If someone does not follow it, it does not mean she will be punished or beaten, it’s just encouragement for Muslim women to follow Sharia law,” Sadeq Akif Muhajir said.

    “What they’re trying to do is to spread fear among the people,” a university student and women’s rights advocate, who did not want to be identified, said.

    “The first time I saw the posters I was really petrified, I thought maybe (the Taliban) will start beating me. They want me to wear a burqa and look like nothing, I would never do that.”

  • Video: Taliban orders beheading of dummies, mannequins

    Video: Taliban orders beheading of dummies, mannequins

    The Taliban has ordered a series of mannequin beheadings in Afghanistan. The order was issued after the Taliban described dummies as “idols” and according to them, forbidden in Islam. Shopkeepers in the western Afghan province of Herat were told to remove the heads of female mannequins. As per Afghan media, those who disobey the order would face harsh consequences as ordered by the ministry’s local department.

    Journalist Arshad Yousafzai shared a video of a shopkeeper beheading female dummy mannequins.

    Read more- No transport for women travelling without hijab, male relative: Taliban

    Earlier on December 27, Aghanistan’s Taliban announced that women who seek to travel long distances should not be offered transport if they are not wearing hijab and are not accompanied by a close male relative.

  • ‘Backward thinking dangerous for Pakistan’: Fawad on Taliban’s restrictions on Afghan women

    Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, while talking about the recent Taliban’s restrictions on Afghan women, stated that the Taliban’s ‘retrogressive thinking’ is dangerous for Pakistan, reports Dawn.

    While addressing a ceremony in Islamabad, the minister said, “Saying that women can’t travel alone or go to schools and colleges — this kind of retrogressive thinking is a danger for Pakistan.”

    “You see that two extremist regimes have cropped up on right [India] and left [Afghanistan] of Pakistan. On one side there is Afghanistan where the Taliban have arrived. We want to fully help the Afghan people”, he added.

    Fawad said, “We have had failures and successes but till now Pakistan is that bright hope in this region which while remaining amid these extremes can emerge out from them.”

    Chaudhry’s statement has come after Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities’ announcement about women who seek to travel long distances should not be offered transport if they are not wearing hijab or not accompanied by a close male relative.

    Furthermore, he pointed out that extremists in the country and said, “Quaid-e-Azam never saw Pakistan as a religious country and all these people who today on his name are fooling the people that the meaning of an Islamic country was a religious country — this was entirely not the case.”

    While talking about the Sialkot lynching incident, Fawad said, “You saw the whole of Pakistan was united and condemned that incident. This is happening every day in India with Muslims and no one is bothered.”

    Chaudhry stressed that Pakistan’s purpose was “preserving minority rights and safeguarding them”.

  • No transport for women travelling without hijab, male relative: Taliban

    Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership has announced that women who seek to travel long distances should not be offered transport if they are not wearing hijab and are not accompanied by a close male relative, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

    The guidance was issued on Sunday by the country’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The ministry spokesman Sadeq Akif Muhajir told AFP: “Women travelling for more than 72 kilometers (km) should not be offered a ride if they are not accompanied by a close family member.”

    Previously, the government had also called on women TV journalists to wear hijabs while presenting. They also directed people to stop playing music in their vehicles.

    Taliban also banned women from acting in dramas due to which they received immense backlash.

    Since August, the Taliban have been imposing severe restrictions for women in the country despite promising the fulfillment of their rights.

    However, activists hope that the Taliban’s battle to gain international recognition and get aid flowing back into Afghanistan will lead to them making concessions to women.

  • UNSC adopts resolution to facilitate Afghanistan

    The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members unanimously adopted a resolution to provide vital support to Afghanistan.

    The resolution states that “payment of funds, other financial assets or economic resources, and the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of such assistance or to support such activities are permitted.”

    Such assistance supports “basic human needs in Afghanistan” and is “not a violation” of sanctions imposed on entities linked to the Taliban, added the resolution.

    The move came as Afghanistan faces an economic meltdown since the Taliban seized control of the country in August. The crisis has left nearly 23 million people facing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme.

    “Humanitarian aid and life-saving assistance must be able to reach the Afghan people without any hindrance,” China’s UN (United Nation) Ambassador, Zhang Jun, said in a tweet on Monday.

    The decision has been made to limit the scope of the resolution to one year, which only suggests that this aims to satisfy Washington’s European allies.

  • ‘Human rights and women rights are different’: PM Khan

    ‘Human rights and women rights are different’: PM Khan

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan during his address at the 17th extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) said that human rights and women’s rights are different.

    “We must understand that when we talk about human rights, every society is different, every society’s idea of human rights and normal rights is different,” said PM Khan.

    “The Pakhtunkhawan province, which borders Afghanistan because the culture is similar because there the Taliban are predominantly the Pashtun movement and there are more Pashtuns on our side of the border,” said the premier, adding, “The city culture is completely different from the rural culture.”

    https://twitter.com/mSaleemJaved/status/1472515320850038785

    “Culture in Kabul was always different to culture in rural areas. Just like in Peshawar it is completely different from the culture to the district adjoining the Afghanistan border,” said the prime minister.

    “I will give you an example. We give stipends to the girl’s child parents to put the girls in school but in tribal districts or districts adjoining Afghanistan, if we are not sensitive to the cultural norms of those people, even with stipends they will not send the girls to school,” said the premier.

    “But if we are sensitive to their cultural norms, without stipends they are willing to send their girls to school,” said PM Khan adding, “So this sensitivity I am afraid when we are talking about human rights and women’s rights we have to be sensitive about this.”

    PM Khan’s words received some criticism online.

  • ‘Govt is going to ensure Pakistani citizens are safe without blood being spilt on either side’: Moeed Yusuf on BBC HARDtalk

    ‘Govt is going to ensure Pakistani citizens are safe without blood being spilt on either side’: Moeed Yusuf on BBC HARDtalk

    National Security Adviser (NSA) to the Prime Minister, Dr Moeed Yusuf, while giving an interview to BBC host Stephen John Sackur on BBC HARDtalk said that the state’s job is not to kill another Pakistani.

    “We are going to try our level best to ensure that Pakistani citizens are safe without any more blood being spilt on either side.” The NSA’s comments come in reference to the Pakistan government’s talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

    “How secure is Pakistan after the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan?”: Sackur

    Sackur questioned Yusuf on how secure Pakistan is after the Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan.

    “Frankly it depends on how responsibly the international community plays the future. Pakistan was not behind anything. There was a policy employed by the United States (US) and others who are in Afghanistan. That was always a failing policy. The only country that kept saying that you will not find a military solution to this problem was Pakistan and our advice was not heeded.”

    “We kept saying negotiate from a position of strength, we weren’t listened to, we were blamed and scape-goated and the result is in front of you,” added Yusuf.

    “We heard the worried voices of the Supreme Court when they were grilling PM Khan,” Sackur

    “Pakistanis are very worried. We heard the worried voices of the Supreme Court when they were grilling PM Khan on what was going on under these negotiations with the Taliban,” responded Sackur and further added that during the grilling of the premier, one of the judges alluded to the 2014 terrible atrocity where the TTP attacked the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar and killed more than 130 children and questioned PM Khan whether the government was about to sign a documented defeat with those who killed these children, and are we going to surrender once again.

    “You should recognise the state of democracy in this country that the judge calls in the prime minister who goes gets grilled and now Stephen Sackur has the opportunity to ask me. That’s the state of democracy and I am proud of that,” responded Yusuf.

    “We have a consistent policy as a state to say that negotiation must happen from a position of strength and this is what we told the Americans and United Kingdom (UK).”

    “No military bases of China in Balochistan”: Yusuf

    Yusuf said there were no military bases of China in Balochistan, rather there were economic bases there where any country could invest.

    “Let me clarify that there are no military bases offered to China in Balochistan, including Gwadar. Yes, there are economic bases and the same was also offered to the United States, Russia, and the Middle East and we are open to all the countries,” the NSA said, adding, “CPEC is what, it is road infrastructure and energy infrastructure and anybody can come and invest there, we are not closed to anybody.”

    “Is Pakistan developing relations with China at the cost of its principles of supporting the rights of Muslims in the world?” Sackur

    Sackur asked whether Pakistan was developing relations with China at the cost of its principles of supporting the rights of Muslims in the world. “You raise your voice for Kashmiri Muslims but refuse to condemn the violation of human rights in a Chinese province,” the interviewer asked.

    Moeed said that Pakistan did not accept the Western version of human rights violations in Xinjiang province and if they have any concerns, they should talk to China. “We have relations of trust with China and our ambassador and other delegations from here also visited the Xinjiang province,” he said.

  • ‘Women are not property,’ Taliban ban forced marriages

    The Taliban issued a decree that bans forced marriages in Afghanistan on Friday, saying women should not be considered “property” and must consent to marriage, reports Al Jazeera.

    It was annouced by Taliban Chief Hibatullah Akhunzada. The international community, which has frozen billions of dollars in funds for Afghanistan, has made women’s and human rights a key element of any future engagement with Afghanistan.

    The decree said, “Both women and men should be equal. No one can force women to marry by coercion or pressure.”

    However, it didn’t mention a minimum age for marriage, which previously was set at 16-years-old.

    The Taliban also allowed a window to re-marry after 17 weeks of her husband’s death. Moreover, the Taliban leadership has ordered Afghan courts to treat women fairly, especially widows seeking inheritance as next of kin.

    The development was hailed on social media by some social media users while most of them shared their concerns.

    https://twitter.com/Nedahalim/status/1466926067323523073?s=20

    During the Taliban’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001, it banned women from leaving the house without a male relative, full face and head covering and girls were made compulsory and restricted from getting education.

    However, now they claim that they have changed but many women, advocates and officials remain skeptical.

  • Pakistan offers to host OIC summit to discuss Afghan crisis

    Pakistan offers to host OIC summit to discuss Afghan crisis

    Foreign Minister (FM) of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi has announced that Pakistan fully endorses Saudi Arabia’s move to request an extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the current Afghanistan situation after the Taliban takeover.

    Qureshi said, “Afghanistan is a founding member of the OIC. As part of the Islamic Ummah, we are bound by fraternal bonds of amity and brotherhood with the people of Afghanistan,” he said stressing that, “today, our Afghan brothers and sisters need us more than ever before.”

    In a video message, shared by the Foreign Office (FO), the minister also announced that Pakistan has offered to host the meeting in Islamabad on December 17.

    Saudi Arabia also made the call for the session on the same day, as per the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

    According to the minister, the arrival of winter has worsened the humanitarian crisis in the worn-torn country. ​He emphasised the need for the OIC to “step in to help our Afghan brothers.”

    According to Qureshi, the first extraordinary session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers was held in Islamabad in January 1980, also on the situation in Afghanistan at that time.

    “Next month, we would, once again, gather in Islamabad, to reaffirm our abiding solidarity with and support to the Afghan people,” Qureshi concluded.

    Since the Taliban takeover, the country has been facing obstacles in the face of violations of human rights and economic collapse.