Afghan Woman TV Anchors Defy Taliban's Dictat to Cover Face
Taliban
Say They May Be Barred From Appearing On TV
Main
Points:
1. Taliban
woman TV anchors were told to cover their face while presenting news.
2. They
appeared on TV without face cover.
3. Taliban
leader Akhundzadeh had issued order mandating women to wear burqa in public
places.
4. Earlier,
woman TV anchors were only required to wear headscarf.
-----
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
30 May 2022
Khatereh Ahmadi a TV anchor, wears a face
covering as she reads the news on TOLO NEWS, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 22,
2022.
------
Ever since
Taliban came to power last year, they have continually harassed women in the
name of implementing Shariah law in the country. They have mandated complete
purdah for women and barred them from appearing in public without Burqa or
veil. This has made difficult for professional women working in the media,
business, arts and sports to work and continue their profession. Many women
journalists had to leave their job in TV channels and many women journalists
and activists had to leave Afghanistan.
Under
foreign pressure, the Taliban had relaxed some restrictions on women
journalists and they were only required to cover their head but last week, the
Taliban again issued new orders mandating women TV anchors to cover their face
while appearing on the TV. This caused another round of disappointment and
frustration among woman TV journalists.
The woman
TV anchors this time defied Taliban dictat and appeared on the TV with
uncovered face. Tolo News, Shamshad TV and One TV telecast programmes with
women anchors appearing without face cover.
The bureau
chief of Shamshad TV Abid Ehsas said that the woman anchors felt that if they
complied Taliban order by covering their face, they may next be barred from
working on the TV. One woman journalist observed that since Taliban came to
power, many women journalists were compelled to leave Afghanistan due to such
restrictions on them. The women journalists are extremely disappointed over the
attitude of the Taliban towards women and they think that their career and life
in this country has no future. She further said that she was contemplating
leaving the country and others like her will also leave Afghanistan if the
restrictions and harassment continued.
The
spokesman of the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices,
Mohammad Sadiq Akif Mohajir said that if the woman anchors did not comply with
the order, we shall talk to their managers and guardians (husbands or fathers).
He said everyone has to abide by the rules of the government.
The Taliban
has said that the women defying dress code should be expelled from their jobs.
Not only that, if the women defied the law, the managers of their media outlets
and their guardians may face penalties and if their husbands or fathers are in
government service, they may be dismissed from service.
This stance
of the Taliban is totally opposite of what they had initially said after coming
to power. Taliban had tried to don a pragmatic approach towards women and
minorities. They had announced general amnesty and had said that they would
respect the rights of women and women would be allowed their place within the
framework of Islamic shariah. In a statement Taliban spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid had said that the woman would be free to work within the framework of
Islam but did not elaborate on what he meant by ‘the framework of Islam.’
Two days
later, Taliban leader Waheedullah Hashmi had said that Muslim women’s right to
work and education will be decided by ‘Islamic scholars’.
Shabnam Dawran worked as a journalist for six years for state-owned RTA
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Earlier, a
woman anchor of state-owned TV RTA Shabnam Dawran, was barred from joining work
on the basis that the ‘system’ had changed. Shabnam Dawran, an anchor said she
was barred from joining her duty after the Taliban’s takeover. This was in
contradiction to what the Taliban leaders have been saying.
It seems
that the Taliban have not been able to chalk out a clear cut policy on women’s
rights and on whether they should be allowed to work.
That women
will be allowed their rights within the framework of Islam and that Islamic
scholars will decide on the issue is an ambiguous statement. There are many
interpretations of Shariah and there are also many opinions of Islamic scholars
or Ulema on the veil and education and jobs for women. And Taliban have been
following the interpretations of their own Ulema since the inception of
Taliban. So it seems a little confusing when they say that their Islamic
scholars will decide on the issue of education and the extent of veil for
It is known
to all that Taliban have their own theology and their own Islamic scholars who
present a violent and extremist Islamic ideology. According to their theology,
women should not be allowed to lead public life and girls should not be allowed
to acquire education. If they allow all this they will violate their own
theology and even if they show some pragmatic approach they cannot go far in
that direction. Their own conservative interpretation will come in their way.
From what they have been saying for the last week and what they have been
practicing it is evident that they are trying to present before the world a
liberal and reformed picture of their organization but their ideological
commitments are pulling them backwards.
The
hardline stand on the veil is not a specific Taliban ideology. Many mainstream
Islamic scholars of Islam are of the view that the Muslim women should be
covered from head to toe in public. These Ulema stress that the women should a
Burqa which has hole before only the left eye and their whole body is Satar
(to be covered) though in many Muslim countries women are not asked to cover
their face.
The Security
Council of the United Nations had demanded that the Afghanistan government
should remove restrictions on women but the Taliban representative in the
Security Council said that the imposition of hijab on women was in accordance
with the religious and cultural traditions of Afghanistan. The Security Council
had passed a resolution condemning restrictions on girls' education, employment
of women and an on protests. The resolution had demanded reopening of girls'
schools, and removing of curbs on human rights of women in the country.
The
preoccupation of Taliban with the issues of women has prevented them from
concentrating on fundamental issues facing the nation. The foremost issue is
that of starvation of millions of Afghan children due to the collapse of
economy. The government cannot pay salaries to the employees on time. Billions
of Afghan money are frozen in the US banks because of the hostilities. The
Taliban's rigid and uncompromising posture has become an obstacle in the
country's development and it's return to normalcy. The Taliban are caught in
the web of religious ideology and modern global conventions. The result is that
Afghanistan's women and innocent children are suffering.
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