KABUL — About two dozen
Afghan women chanting “bread,
work, freedom” protested in the capital on Sunday against the Taliban’s harsh
restrictions on their rights.
اضافة اعلان
Since seizing power in August, the Taliban have
rolled back the marginal gains made by women during the two decades of US
intervention in
Afghanistan.
“Education is my right! Reopen schools!” chanted the
protesters, many of them wearing face-covering veils, as they gathered in front
of the ministry of education.
Demonstrators marched for a few hundred meters
before ending the rally as authorities deployed
Taliban fighters in plain
clothes, an AFP correspondent reported.
“We wanted to read out a declaration but the Taliban
didn’t allow it,” said protester Zholia Parsi.
“They took the mobile phones of some girls and also
prevented us from taking photos or videos of our protest.”
After seizing power, the Taliban had promised a
softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that characterized their first stint
in power from 1996 to 2001.
But many restrictions have already been imposed.
Tens of thousands of girls have been shut out of
secondary schools, while women have been barred from returning to many
government jobs.
Women have also been banned from travelling alone
and can only visit public gardens and parks in the capital on days separate
from men.
We wanted to read out a declaration but the Taliban didn’t allow it. ... They took the mobile phones of some girls and also prevented us from taking photos or videos of our protest.
This month, the country’s supreme leader and Taliban
chief
Hibatullah Akhundzada said women should generally stay at home.
They were ordered to conceal themselves completely,
including their faces, should they need to go out in public.
The decree, which triggered international outrage,
carried echoes of the Taliban’s first reign, when they made the all-covering
burqa mandatory for women.
The Taliban have also banned protests calling for
women’s rights and dismissed calls by the
UN to reverse their restrictions.
Some Afghan women initially pushed back against the
curbs, holding small protests.
But the Taliban soon rounded up the ringleaders, holding
them incommunicado while denying they had been detained.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
