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Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi: “Yesterday I met some girl students. They said that they need smartphones for their studies and their security. I am happy that today the UP Congress has decided, with the consent of the manifesto committee, that it will provide smartphones to inter pass girls and electronic scooters to graduate girls on coming to power.”
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]]>The post Women in Afghanistan can continue to study in universities but classrooms will be gender-segregated appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, laid out the new policies at a news conference, several days after Afghanistan’s new rulers formed an all-male government.
The world has been watching closely to see to what extent the Taliban might act differently from their first time in power, in the late 1990s. During that era, girls and women were denied an education, and were excluded from public life.
The Taliban have suggested they have changed, including in their attitudes toward women. However, they have used violence in recent days against women protesters demanding equal rights.
Haqqani said the Taliban did not want to turn the clock back 20 years. “We will start building on what exists today,” he said.
However, female university students will face restrictions under the Taliban, including a compulsory dress code. Haqqani said hijabs will be mandatory but did not specify if this meant compulsory headscarves or also compulsory face coverings.
Gender segregation will also be enforced, he said. “We will not allow boys and girls to study together,” he said. “We will not allow co-education.”
Haqqani said the subjects being taught in universities would also be reviewed but did not elaborate. The Taliban, who subscribe to a harsh interpretation of Islam, have banned music and art during their previous time in power.
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]]>The post Women Hold Pro-Taliban Rally: ‘Hijab Not a Choice, Last Afghan Government Misused Us for Beauty’ appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>About 300 women brandished Taliban flags while speakers screamed against the West and showed support for the Islamists’ policies, dressed head-to-toe in conformity with strict new dress restrictions for schooling.
A few wore blue burqas with only a little mesh window to see through, but the majority wore black niqabs that covered most of their faces except their eyes. Many donned black gloves as well.
Women’s rights in Afghanistan were severely restricted during the Taliban’s leadership from 1996 to 2001, but since regaining power last month, they have promised to pursue a more moderate policy.
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]]>The post “My dream is now shattered”, says Anarkali Kaur Honaryar appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>Honaryar, 36, a dentist, championed the cause of women in the highly patriarchal society of Afghanistan and led campaigns for the rights of the vulnerable communities. She dreamt of a life in a progressive and democratic Afghanistan.
“My dream is now shattered.”
Honaryar still hopes that Afghanistan gets a government that protects the gains made in the last 20 years. “Maybe it’s little, but we still have time.”
Hostilities in Afghanistan had earlier forced the Sikh MP’s relatives to move to India, Europe and Canada. Honaryar and her family reached India in an Indian Air Force’s C-17 transport aircraft on Sunday morning amid a deteriorating situation in her country after the return of the Taliban.
She overcame with emotions at the airport thinking whether she will be able to return home, ever.
“I didn’t even get the time to take a fistful of my country’s soil… a souvenir from my country. I could just touch the ground at the airport before boarding the flight,” Honaryar told PTI as she broke into tears.
Staying at a hotel in Delhi, her ailing mother wants to go back to Kabul.
“I don’t know what to tell her,” Honaryar says.
In May 2009, Honaryar was chosen by Radio Free Europe’s Afghan chapter as their “Person of the Year”. The recognition made her a household name in Kabul.
A doctor by profession, the lawmaker recalls her days when she worked for the Afghan human rights commission and traversed the seemingly inaccessible mountains regions of the country.
“Muslim women trusted me despite not being from the same religion,” she says.
Asked about her friends and co-workers who are still stuck in the conflict-torn nation, she says “We tried really hard to avoid a situation where we have to leave our country.”
“My colleagues and my friends have been calling me, sending me messages. But how do I respond? Every call, every message breaks my heart, makes me cry. They think I am safe and at ease in Delhi, but how do I tell them that I miss them a lot.”
Honaryar says the memories that she wants to keep are of the love she received in Afghanistan.
“In Afghanistan, people would swarm around me and click selfies when I would come out from meetings. They loved me because I was their voice in the National Assembly. I fought for everyone. The issues I raised, all my speeches, are part of the records of the Assembly,” she said.
Among her recorded speeches is a vow that Honaryar took — not to work for a Taliban government ever.
“I said a lot of things against the Taliban. My ideas and principles are completely opposite. I’m alive and hopeful. I will continue to work for Afghanistan from Delhi,” she says.
Honaryar feels that the future is unpredictable for the people of Afghanistan.
The people are so depressed that they are desperately clinging onto planes… as if those are buses that would take them to safety,” she said gazing into a void.
The one question that troubles her the most is the future of women under Taliban rule.
“The Taliban said no one will be harmed. But peace does not mean non-violence. Peace means that they accept women as equals and recognize their rights,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Edge Media staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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]]>The post “Protect Afghan Women”: Hundreds Join In Protest In Delhi appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>Students, mostly women, raised slogans and carried posters demanding support for the Afghan women and children as Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul fell to the militia last Sunday.
With placards of “Protect Afghan Women”, they sought to raise their voices for the women who are on the brink of losing their hard-earned rightsEven as the Taliban, at a press conference last week, reassured the world that they have changed, their message of moderation was contradicted by the protesters whose families remain stuck in Afghanistan.
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]]>The post Man arrested for making objectionable videos of women tourists at Amber Fort in Jaipur appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The police also seized the phone of accused Suresh Kumar Yadav and recovered over 200 clippings of objectionable videos of girls and women shot at various tourist places.
The women did not know that they were being recorded, the police said after the arrest.
The man was spotted shooting videos of women at tourist places by a woman constable in plain clothes, Jaipur’s Additional Commissioner of Police Rahul Prakash said.
Constable Prem Lata of Nirbhaya Squad, who was on duty at Amber Fort for monitoring anti-social elements, caught the accused after she noticed some of his unusual activities and checked his mobile phone in which there were many video clips of women tourists.
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]]>The comments by Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, represent the first comments on governance from a federal level across the country after their blitz across the country.
While there were no major reports of abuses or fighting in Kabul, many residents have stayed home and remain fearful after the insurgents’ takeover saw prisons emptied and armories looted. Older generations remember their ultraconservative Islamic views, which included stonings, amputations and public executions during their rule before the US-led invasion that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
“The Islamic Emirate doesn’t want women to be victims” Samangani said, using the militants’ term for Afghanistan. “They should be in government structure according to Shariah law.”
He added: “The structure of government is not fully clear, but based on experience, there should be a fully Islamic leadership and all sides should join.”
Samangani remained vague on other details, however, implying people already knew the rules of Islamic law the Taliban expected them to follow.
“Our people are Muslims and we are not here to force them to Islam,” he said.
Under the Taliban, which ruled in accordance with a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, women were largely confined to their homes. The insurgents have sought to project greater moderation in recent years, but many Afghans remain skeptical.
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