The Taliban’s moral police have allegedly detained and lashed several young women in Kabul for violating strict hijab guidelines, accusations the fundamentalist group has denied.
As per a 16-year-old victim Lale’s account to The Guardian, she was seized along with other girls from her English language class by Taliban enforcers. Those confronting the men were beaten, while she was whipped on her feet and legs after trying to reason with them. Her father was also badly assaulted later for “raising immoral girls”.
Lale said the Taliban labeled them “infidels” for learning English and harboring dreams of going abroad. She was freed only after village elders intervened and signed a pledge to not leave home without a headscarf. But she has now been barred from attending her classes altogether.
“I can no longer imagine anything for my future other than staying home and getting married. I don’t have the motivation to study after this,” the distressed teen added.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has denied these were “usual practices” and claimed the arrests happened after families complained to the moral police about foreign groups influencing their daughters’ attire.
This comes within days of the UN Security Council proposing to appoint a special envoy to engage with the Taliban on women’s rights, which the hardliners dismissed. Experts warn such detention drives can further intimidate women in public life.
Over the last 16 months, the Taliban have issued decree after decree curtailing Afghan women’s rights and freedoms in direct contravention of their reform promises. These include barring girls from secondary education, mandatory face coverings, and severe limits on movement and work.
Rights groups have documented several instances of brutal crackdowns on women protesters rallying to demand their rights. The fundamentalist regime has also dissolved the women’s affairs ministry after barring most females from returning to government jobs.
Human rights observers say Taliban 2.0 has implemented the same repressive regime as its previous 1996-2001 stint in power despite initial pledges of upholding rights within the contours of Islam.
