Women 'slaves' in 'free' Afghanistan

- Hotline-Bhal Chandra Jani

- Women cannot wear sandals or slippers that make noise while walking with high heels. The Taliban believe that even the sound of the heels of the shoes can corrupt men's minds

- What was feared is happening in Afghanistan. Claiming to be in sync with the new age, the Taliban has emerged within a year and a half and started atrocity on women.

Sharia law came into effect in Afghanistan after these Islamic orthodoxies took over the country from the Soviets in 1992. After the Americans were also driven away, the leaders of the Taliban got a free ground to act as they pleased.

After 21 years, Sharia law has been implemented again. It was announced that the Taliban government had implemented Sharia law as a major breakthrough. The Taliban has also asked the judges to apply Sharia law in all the courts of Afghanistan and to give punishment accordingly. So now Afghanistan will be punished according to Sharia law which is considered extremely cruel.

Sharia law provides for extremely cruel or brutal punishments such as stoning, flogging, public hanging, amputation of hands and feet of thieves. The Taliban claimed when they came to power that they would change themselves, but they did not and gradually pushed Afghanistan towards fundamentalism.

The Taliban began their brutality by taking away women's rights, first by shutting down women's education, recently banning women from going to gyms and parks. Also, women are prohibited from going out without men. Wearing the veil in public has been ordered. Recently, the Taliban held a meeting with the judges, which included top Taliban leader Haibatullah Ankhudzada.

Since last January, the Taliban government has again started taking brutal measures in the name of Sharia. In addition to Kabul and other cities, cloth shops in Herat province have been ordered to destroy clothed mannequins.

The Taliban have justified their move by calling the act of keeping mannequins in cloth shops against Sharia. Not only this but the Taliban administration has also banned the playing of music in vehicles. The Directorate of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (DPPVV) has passed this order. Shopkeepers in Herat province are devastated by the order and say the statue is their only property. He has paid 100 to 200 dollars for this mannequin. Earlier DPPVV has also advised taxi drivers not to pick up women who are not wearing hijab. The Taliban has continued to take repressive measures against women and the condition of women has worsened since the Taliban came to power.

They are also prohibited from traveling more than 72 km without a male companion. It is worth mentioning that after the formation of the Taliban government, he promised to reform the country, but now contrary steps are being taken.

These laws are the religious laws of Muslims. Which is not fully applied to women in many countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, America, Britain, France. If implemented, a complete ban would apply to women's economic, social, cultural and political life, but a woman lawyer named Bisma Jahangir or Benazir Bhutto was a pioneer in political life in Pakistan. Even in India, sisters like Najma Heptullah, Shabana Azmi are active in politics, but in Afghanistan, the Taliban consider women to be boys and do housework.

After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, many strict rules were imposed on women, including not getting education. Due to which women are facing great difficulty in getting education. However, now the independent minded citizens of Afghanistan have started getting education in their own way. For which many secret schools have been opened. Books are kept hidden in the house.

A few months ago, the Taliban banned women from going out in public without male escort. While girls are also banned from going to school. Due to these rules of the Taliban, the youth of Afghanistan are focusing on educating themselves in their own way to keep pace with the present times. Also, secret schools are now being opened by organizations connected with social service. Courses are now being run in secret as the Taliban monitor those who break their rules to enforce them.

Some girls keep books in the kitchen hidden from the men of the house which they read while cooking. A girl named Nafeesa, who is studying secretly, told the media that my brother beats me if he sees a book in my hand. So I decided to keep this book in the kitchen and read it. Since the Taliban has banned girls' education, the situation of women and girls has become dire. In Afghanistan, many girls and women like Nafisa are reading with books in the kitchen while many secret schools have also opened. These schools are being run by the Revolutionary Association of Women.

To keep women out of higher education, universities in Kabul have barbed wire fences and armed guards.

It is also said that it is strange that all over the world emphasis is placed on teaching girls. Campaigns like Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao are also running in India. While the Afghan Taliban consider women as their property. He uses them as he pleases, beats him and if he even opposes him, he punishes him severely.

A ban on girls' university education by the Taliban government in Afghanistan has sparked worldwide protests. At that time, the boys of many universities in Afghanistan also came out of their classes and opposed this decision of the Taliban.

More than 60 professors teaching in different universities have resigned from their posts. Along with this, male students have also come forward in support of their female counterparts. He says that the government should immediately withdraw this decision of the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan as it discriminates against women.

The Taliban have closed all educational institutions for women and girls' schools. Women cannot work. Any organization, company or person who employs women is threatened and intimidated.

Under the Taliban regime, it is a crime to watch or film a videotape, as well as to watch TV.

The Taliban believe that men become corrupted by hearing women's shrill voices. The matter is not so urgent. Women cannot wear sandals or slippers that make noise while walking with high heels. The Taliban believe that even the sound of the heels of the shoes spoils men's minds and for this reason they should not speak loudly or laugh loudly. So this list is very long.

"Many girls are brought to the stadium and stoned to death if they do not agree to the wedding organized by their parents. A six-year-old girl was beaten up for carrying school books in public. Two paternal cousins ​​were buried alive because they were conversing in the market. A woman cannot talk to anyone who is not her closest relative, and in this case the Taliban assumed that they were husband and wife. In Afghanistan, it is mandatory for all men to have a beard. Some Taliban commanders also kidnap girls. Girls who are victims of their atrocities are not ready to say anything. Their mothers say that when this happens, we have to understand that our daughter is now dead. If a girl is sexually assaulted, it is considered shameful for the girl and her family members. 'A girl was taken away from home. He was subjected to inhuman torture for a week. After that, the girl was sent back home with a rag wrapped around her now bloody body. Her father killed the girl with a gun saying, 'I am not in a position to kill those oppressors, so I will kill you now.'

Some well-educated women write for the website and mouthpiece of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (ICHAUCH). This clandestine organization has about 2,500 members, who, despite going against the Taliban, provide shelter, education and medical aid to Afghan women and girls. However, the network of charitable organizations of these people operates mainly in Pakistan. About two million Afghan refugees were living in Pakistan before the attacks on New York. Deportees run orphanages and schools along the borders. There are many sympathizers in the area, including some taxi drivers. There are 65 schools and 33 orphanages in Afghanistan. Which is mostly conducted privately at the member's home.

Some women's stories are heard in schools and shelters here. Women between eight years of age and 50 years of age have to wear the burkha compulsorily. A woman says that one day, tired of the intense heat, I removed my veil for a moment and was beaten with a stick by the Taliban.

Voice of America and Free Europe Radio are funded by the US government and operate in Afghanistan. Instead of enforcing modern and independent rules, the Taliban have started imposing more orthodox and fundamentalist restrictions, which has resulted in 40 percent of the media business in Afghanistan being shut down and 60 percent of journalists leaving journalism in Afghanistan.