Kabul: Afghan women protest against new limitations imposed by Taliban

Kabul [Afghanistan], December 29 (ANI): Several dozen Afghan women on Tuesday protested against the new directives of the Taliban putting limitations on their movement.

In recent days the Islamic Emirate Ministry of Virtue and Vice issued a new directive on women’s travel, saying the women who are travelling long distances by road should be accompanied by a male relative, and they should wear a hijab, to cover their head and face. The directive also banned playing music in the vehicles, reported Tolo News. “Our forces told drivers and people to not play and listen to music, music is not allowed in the Islamic religion,” said Mawlawi Mohammad Sadeq Akef, a spokesman of the Ministry of Virtue and Vice.

Women protestors said that the Islamic Emirate is keeping women away from society by imposing limitations and called for their rights to education, employment and social freedom to be honored, reported Tolo News. They used the slogans “we are the voice of hungry people” and “we are awake, we hate discrimination.”

“How can we find a relative to go outside in urgent moments? They said ‘we are not responsible for your food,’ so pay our salaries and we can eat, we are not the women of two decades ago, we will not be silent,” said Wida, a protestor, reported Tolo News.

The Islamic Emirate should not remove women from society, they said. “We gathered to raise voices against restrictions imposed on women; our schools are closed, they took away working opportunities, now they ordered us not to go out of our homes alone, they are talking about the rights described by Islam. Does Islam order that a nation should be hungry, does Islam say to forbid girls from education?” said Shayesta, a protestor.

The protestors called on the international community to not ignore Afghan women, reported Tolo News. “We are half of the society, we are human, we have the right to education and to work, I ask the international community to not recognize this government,” said Zahra, a protestor.

The protest of Afghan women did not last a long time and the Islamic Emirate’s forces fired into the air to disperse the protesters. Meanwhile, the Taliban officials said that women can have rights based on Islamic regulations. “The Islamic Emirate supreme leader, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, issued a decree on women which covers all (aspects of) women’s lives,” said Bilal Karimi, Deputy spokesman of Islamic Emirate. (ANI)