Television reporters in Afghanistan wear full veils, with only their eyes visible, They did it for the first time on Sunday to present the news on TOLOnews, Ariana Television, Shamshad TV and 1TV. It was the first time since the return to power of the Taliban in August 2021, the last of the rights denied to women in Kabul.
“We resisted and opposed the use of the full veil,” said Sonia Niazi, presenter of TOLOnews, “but the broadcaster has been under pressure, they said that any presenter who appeared on the screen without covering her face would be given another job“.
“We are happy that the channels have exercised their responsibility correctly,” replied Mohammad Sadeq Akif Mohajir, spokesman for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Hence the continuous restrictions, especially for women, wanted by the Taliban government which says it does not want to force the presenters to leave their jobs, but with the imposition it leads them to submit.
Before this imposition on the presenters and journalists, at the beginning of May, the obligation to cover themselves completely in public with the burqa, defined as traditional and respectful. “Women who are neither too young nor too young should veil their faces in front of a man who is not a member of their family to avoid provocation.” The Taliban present themselves to the men of families where women do not want to wear the burqa and they risk imprisonment, as do their daughters, sisters and wives.
Journalists also had to comply with this order by last Saturday. Even before that, other prohibitions and obligations had arrived that lead more and more women to be “propertyOf men, tools for having children without any right and freedom.
Girls are not allowed there school. According to the spokesman for the Taliban education ministry, the strictly female schools will reopen only when the ministry has prepared a plan to allow women to go there while respecting Afghan culture and Sharia law.
Women can’t work in the public sector, but hardly elsewhere as well. They must always be covered in public, go out if really necessary, otherwise stay indoors, and for longer journeys they cannot be alone, but accompanied by a close relative, obviously a man. Women can not do sport and, like everyone, they cannot listen to music.
For women living in the northern provinces there has also been exclusion from hammam, public toilets. For many of them it is the only possibility to wash in the heat and to maintain personal hygiene and consequently health. Last January the order came to cut off the heads of female mannequins because the human representation violates the sharia, the Islamic law. This is the basis of everything: “We are committed to respecting women’s rights under the Sharia system”Taliban leaders said on the return to power. Except that for women in this system there are no rights, they are like locked up in a prison.
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Source: Vanity Fair