The Taliban will use security forces to prevent women from visiting one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks, according to information provided by a spokesman for the Ministry of Vices and Virtues. The ministry alleges that the women have not respected the correct way of wearing the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, when they go to Band-e-Amir, in the central province of Bamyan.
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This comes a week after the minister, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, visited the province and told both officials and religious clerics that women have not adhered to the correct way of wearing the hijab, asking security personnel to prevent women from visiting the tourist spot.
Sightseeing is not an obligation for women, Hanafi declared at the time.
Ministry spokesman Molvi Mohammad Sadiq Akif shared a report of Hanafi’s statements late on the night of Saturday, August 26, which included the use of security forces, clerics and elders to carry out the Hanafi order. . A recording of the minister’s speech in Bamyan, which coincides with Akif’s report, was shared on social media.
Akif was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.
“Not content with depriving girls and women of education, employment and free movement, the Taliban also wants to take away parks and sports and now even nature, as we see in this latest ban on women visiting Band -e-Amir,” Heather Barr, associate director for women’s rights at Human Rights Watch, said in an emailed statement.
Step by step, the walls are closing in on women as each home becomes a prison, she said.
Last November, the Taliban-led government banned women from using public spaces, including parks, on the grounds that they were not wearing the hijab correctly or following gender segregation rules.
Since taking control of the country on August 15, 2021, following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces, they have imposed various restrictions targeting Afghan girls and women, including preventing them from going to school beyond the sixth degree and ban them from working in local and non-governmental organizations, while cracking down on the media.
These tough measures sparked fierce international outrage, including in Muslim-majority countries.
Band-e-Amir is one of the main tourist attractions in Bamyan. It became the country’s first national park in 2009 and attracts thousands of visitors every year. It is an important source of income for the local population and their tourism, restaurant, hotel and craft businesses.
With AP, original note
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