Haleema Mustafa, the Hijab Diversity Model Arrested for Trying to Join ISIS
New Age Islam
News Bureau
31 August 2020
• Female Pakistani Lawyer Tortured for Speech Against Army, According to A Video Shared by Arif Aajakia
• Arab World’s
1st Women-Only Motorbike Taxi Launched by Mother-Daughter, Rana and Carine
Karazi, Duo in Lebanon
• Saudi Arabia
Boasts 2,400 Elite Women Players: Official
• Tala
Al-Jahlan, Executive Director of Legal Affairs at The G20 Saudi Secretariat
• Leadership Starts
the Day You Are Born, Kamala Harris Tells South Asian Women
• Afghan Women
Negotiators to Face Hardline Taliban In Peace Talks
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/haleema-mustafa-hijab-diversity-model/d/122758
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Haleema Mustafa, the Hijab Diversity Model Arrested for Trying to Join ISIS
August 31, 2020
Christine
Douglass-Williams
Haleema Mustafa
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The arrest of
Haleema Mustafa is welcome news, especially in light of the fact that there is
in Canada a greater threat of jihad terror than the Liberal government wishes
to admit. In 2017, it emerged that dozens of jihadis were walking free in
Canada, yet authorities wouldn’t charge them. Now, in the space of just over a
month, two arrests have been made: Haleema Mustafa was one, and in late July,
terrorism charges were laid against another Muslim, Hussein Sobhe Borhot.
In 2016, Haleema
Mustafa donned the hijab with pride in a CBC “diversity” exclusive entitled
“The hijab is the ‘centrepiece’ of these outfits rocked by young Toronto Muslim
women.”
With the
glistening Lake Ontario as her backdrop, Haleema Mustafa is strutting her
carefully-curated outfit on the boardwalk-turned-catwalk.
The CBC used the
same photo of Haleema Mustafa in its story of her arrest that it used in its
feature about hijabi fashion, without telling its readers that Haleema had been
in its pages before her arrest, for a quite different reason.
The Islamic
veil, however, is anything but a fashion statement. Just ask the many women who are punished for
not being veiled in many Islamic states. In Iran, they are treated as
criminals, and “punished for encouraging corruption and debauchery.” And for
those who insist that full covering is cultural, not religious, consider these
passages:
(Quran 24:31)
And tell the believing women to reduce of their vision and guard their private
parts and not expose their adornment except that which appears thereof and to
wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not expose their
adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers,
their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers, their brothers’ sons, their
sisters’ sons, their women, that which their right hands possess, or those male
attendants having no physical desire, or children who are not yet aware of the
private aspects of women. And let them not stamp their feet to make known what
they conceal of their adornment. And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O
believers, that you might succeed.
If a woman does
not cover, she is fair game to be assaulted:
(Quran 33:59) O
Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to
bring down over themselves of their outer garments. That is more suitable that
they will be known and not be abused.
“Woman arrested
in Toronto area for allegedly trying to join ISIS,” by Stewart Bell, Global
News, August 26, 2020:
Ten months after
returning to Canada from Turkey, a Toronto-area woman has been arrested for
allegedly attempting to join the so-called Islamic State.
Haleema Mustafa
was taken into custody at around noon on Wednesday in Markham, Ont., north of
Toronto, and was to appear in court Thursday to face charges.
The Public
Prosecution Service of Canada said Mustafa faced two terrorism counts: leaving
Canada to participate in the activities of a terrorist group and participation
in the activities of a terrorist group.
A woman who
answered the door at the family home declined to comment. Mustafa’s husband,
Ikar Mao, was charged with the same two offences last December and remains in
custody.
The couple left
Toronto together in June 2019 and were caught in a Turkish city an hour’s drive
from the Syrian border. They were detained and returned to Canada separately in
October.
Few women have
faced terrorism charges in Canada.
While women have
a long history of involvement in terrorist groups, Canadian authorities have
charged just three women with terrorism since 2013 — and only one of them was
convicted.
“In Canada,
there’s only been a handful of women who have been charged with terrorism
offences,’’ said Jessica Davis, the author of Women in Modern Terrorism: From
Liberation Wars to Global Jihad and the Islamic State.
Rehab Dughmosh
tried to join ISIS in 2016 but was stopped by Turkish authorities. Sent back to
Canada, she planned an attack at a Toronto Canadian Tire and was convicted in
2019.
https://www.weeklyblitz.net/oped/hijab-diversity-model-arrested-for-trying-to-join-isis/
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Female Pakistani
Lawyer Tortured for Speech Against Army, According to A Video Shared by Arif
Aajakia
Aug 30, 2020
According to a video shared
by Arif Aajakia, a human rights activist, the woman went on a tirade against
the Pakistan Army, terming it an “enemy” during her address
-----
ISLAMABAD: A
Pakistani female advocate, who recently delivered a speech critical of the
country's armed forces, was abducted and tortured for days, before she was
found by locals in a very bad condition in Mailsi of Punjab province earlier
this month.
According to a
video shared by ArifAajakia, a human rights activist, the woman went on a
tirade against the Pakistan Army, terming it an "enemy" during her
address.
According to
last week's report in Geo News, the female advocate had been kidnapped from her
office by unidentified men on August 14, police said. She was found in a
semi-conscious state from a field near Dhoda Road in Mailsi.
The woman was
discovered with her hands and legs tied and could not speak due to a cloth
covering her mouth, police added.
In another video
shared by Aajakia, the traumatised lawyer is being asked by locals about her
condition. She said she was a resident of Dipalpur and confirmed that she was
abducted, tortured and thrown into a field by four persons.
The advocate
added that she was a mother of six.
She has been
shifted to the Dipalpur tehsil headquarters (THQ) hospital, the district police
officer (DPO) said, according to Geo News.
The police
officer said that a first information report (FIR), including charges of
kidnapping, was lodged by the victim's son. A special team investigating the
case recorded the woman's statement.
The woman's
critical condition shows how people in Pakistan face dire and often fatal
consequences for criticising the Pakistan Army.
The Pakistani
armed forces have been accused of eroding democratic values and have a say in
the domestic and foreign policy of the country, reducing the civilian
government to a mere puppet.
In a country
where criticism of the military is frowned upon, an unprecedented crackdown has
been launched on dissent, where the Pakistan Army and the ISI are committing
human rights abuses against people including human right activists and
political activists, for their critical views against them.
Several
activists, who have escaped from Pakistan, continue to hold Pakistan Army responsible
for the enforced disappearances, murders and other crimes against dissenters.
Instead of
taking a stern response of tackling terror on its soil, Pakistan military,
instead, harbours terrorists and allows them to carry out attacks in
neighbouring countries, including India and Afghanistan, while continuing to
clamp down on dissent.
For instance,
Manzoor Pashteen, a Pashtun human rights activist, has been jailed for
criticising the Pakistan Army and taking out protests against the armed forces.
Pashteen's arrest sparked a huge demonstration in several parts of the country
and many Pashtuns are demanding his release. He was subsequently released, but
that has not quelled the protests against the Pakistani military.
Pashteen's
Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), which was founded in 2018, has organised
regular demonstrations against Pakistan Army's heavy-handed operations in
tribal regions even as the military has evidently chosen to crush the movement
with its all too familiar tactics.
Apart from
Pashtuns, several Balochis and Sindhis in Pakistan and abroad have also
launched protests against the government-military nexus and the establishment's
brutal crackdown on their communities.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/female-pakistani-lawyer-tortured-for-speech-against-army/articleshow/77834042.cms
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Arab World’s 1st
Women-Only Motorbike Taxi Launched by Mother-Daughter, Rana and Carine Karazi,
Duo in Lebanon
Bassam Zaazaa
31 August 2020
Rana and Carine Karazi, who
have launched a women-only motorbike taxi service, are seen driving in Beirut,
Lebanon. (Supplied)
-----
A Lebanese
mother and her daughter have become the first in the Arab world to provide
women-only motorbike taxi to help females commute cheaply, safely and swiftly.
Rana Karazi, a
mother of two, lost her job at a security company in December 2019 amid
Lebanon’s rapid economic downfall. Needing to provide for her family, she
started Moto Taxi by Rana to earn money and provide a service to Lebanese
women.
As the country’s
ongoing economic and financial crisis set in, many have switched into survival
mode. At the end of 2019, 45 percent of Lebanon was living below the poverty
line, the World Bank estimated. Today, and in the wake of the devastating
August 4 explosion at the Beirut port, that number has likely risen.
The recently out
of work Karazi received a call from a busy friend a few months ago saying she
would pay Karazi to drive her child to and from where the child needed to be.
The trip sparked
Karazi’s business idea.
“I drove her
child back and forth and she paid me money. When I completed my mission, I told
to myself why I don’t make private business out of that transport service,”
Karazi told Al Arabiya English.
A mother of
20-year-old Carine and a younger brother, 39-year-old Karazi explains that she
mastered the art of driving a motorcycle at the age of 35.
“In the few
months, my daughter and I took to social media [Instagram, Facebook and
WhatsApp groups] to promote our business... As our client list grew bigger, I
had to train Carine how to drive a motorcycle and she became my partner,” said
Rana, who lives in Beirut’s Tareeq Al Jdeede area.
Karazi said
she’s now had to hire a third driver to meet demand.
“We have proven
to be a great success within three months. The coming days our schedule is
nearly full that I had to ask my neighbor to join my team,” she said.
Having studied
travel and tourism, the single-mother said she now has a fleet of two
motorcycles that requires constant maintenance and services aside from daily
expenses.
She pays around
25,000 Lebanese pounds ($17 at the official exchange rate, which has now
slipped dramatically) for oil changes for each motorcycle monthly, and the
daily fuel cost is around 4,000 pounds. The mother-daughter duo charges 3,000
pounds per trip, which is around the price a standard shared taxi ride would
cost in Lebanon.
As Lebanon’s
economy continues to contract, and political turmoil escalates, the shortage of
dollars in the country continues to put pressure on the exchange rate and the
value of the dollar has fluctuated for a year.
Along with the
country’s uncertainties, catastrophic economic situation and COVID-19 health
hazards, Karazi said she has seen the number of clients rise in the past few
months.
“Life has become
more expensive and less safe. That was one of the major reasons why female
clients have trusted me more. It’s reasonable for families to send daughters,
wives, sisters on a motor-taxi since it is cheaper, faster, easier and
healthier – especially amid fears of contracting coronavirus. Passengers
nowadays refrain from using car taxis to avoid interacting with drivers
meanwhile on a motorbike, it is less risky as the passenger wears a facemask
and gloves,” she said.
She explained
that her daughter, who is a college student, has been handling social media
campaigns, advertisements and inquiries.
Karazi is proud
that she and her daughter are believed to have become the first in the Arab
world to provide this kind of transport service. In Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia
similar services have cropped up.
“I also feel
self-assured that the public entrusts me for the safety of their wives, sisters
and daughters, especially when they contact us to drive them around Beirut and
its outskirts,” she said stressing that her open-minded and modern family has
been fully supportive.
Karazi hopes to
expand her business very soon.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/08/31/Arab-world-s-1st-women-only-motorbike-taxi-launched-by-mother-daughter-duo-in-Lebanon.html
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Saudi Arabia
boasts 2,400 elite women players: Official
August 30, 2020
JEDDAH —
Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (SAOC)
Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal inaugurated the first Saudi International
Athletes Forum here on Saturday.
A galaxy of
prominent local and international sports figures from around the world
participated in the two-day event, and they include chairwoman of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission and Zimbabwe Sports
Minister Kirsty Coventry.
SAOC,
represented by the Saudi Athletes Commission, is hosting the virtual session,
which concluded on Sunday.
Addressing the
inaugural session, Prince Abdul Aziz thanked and appreciated the guests
attending various sessions of the event, including Olympic champions from
various countries of the world, for presenting their Olympic experiences and
contributions in front of the young Saudi men and women sports figures so as to
enable them to benefit for their performances in their respective sport events
in future.
Prince Abdul
Aziz said, “The athletes are affiliated with the international committee and it
represents athletes around the world. A lot of athletes do not have a voice or
a representation but they are our heroes and champions, so how could we learn
about their needs if they do not have a voice.
“That is why we
have to take their opinion and impressions especially that all sports are
different, and the key purpose of the committee is to solve their problems and
bridge the gap between athletes and sport officials.”
Prince Abdul
Aziz also added that its mandatory for every federation to start their
athlete’s committee; I have requested this but the athletes must address this
as well. This is one of the things we are keen to develop between athletes
within their federations.”
He added, “Don’t
lose hope no matter what, always find a solution. If you think you don’t have a
problem or issue, you are wrong we all have challenges and we should take it as
a way of learning from experiences, if we don’t have challenges we won’t be
able to compete.”
“The Saudi
Athletes Commission is an independent committee with a different nature of
work. The commission is concerned with communicating the problems of all Saudi
athletes,” Prince Abdul Aziz said, adding that they are about to launch new
regulations after reaching an agreement with them so as to serve the rest of
the players.
Meanwhile,
president of the Saudi Athlete Commission Ibrahim Almoaiqel moderated the first
session which included: Coventry, table tennis Olympic medalist and (IOC
Athletes’ Commission member Ryu Seung Min, and IOC Athletes Rights’ Committee
member and vice chair at the Athlete Commission at the Olympic Council of Asia
(OCA) Tayyeb Ikram.
The guest
speakers agreed on the importance of increasing the representation of athletes.
As Coventry said, “To ensure the decision makers are not just hearing from us,
but also to include us in the decision making. To allow organizations to better
understand what athletes go through and help make better decisions.”
Ikram added, it
is good to let them plan things for themselves. It is about participation and
not only in performance but also what is good for them as the Olympic movement
is all about athletes.”
Ryu Seung Min
said, “We want to show the world that we would like to communicate with all the
athletes and listen to them.”
The main
challenges in Asia were highlighted when Ikram said, “We are not different but
we have a different culture and a traditional sport system, that’s why on the
mental side we need to update our sport system in which we need athletes to get
involved in their environment.
“You can have a
medal, but how much pressure and anxiety do you go through and how to deal with
it. We are still working on that and that’s why we have the athletes’
committees. We have to identify those challenges and be active towards it.”
Ryu Seung Min
also shared his experience on the workshop they held to assist athletes prepare
for their life after retirement and acknowledged the importance of continues
feedback and evaluation to ensure its success and hoped it could be accessible
to all athletes around the world.
A word of advice
to the right way to move forward, Ryu Seung Min said, “Respect each other is
key for things to work together and develop our communities and please go to
athlete 365 register and benefit from all the valuable information to help
athletes.”
SAOC director of
communication moderated the following session which included Sydney Olympic
silver medalist Hadi Souan and Saad Al-Shehri, football coach and manager of
the Saudi under-23 national team.
Souan said, “All
athletes compete to get the same medal and being talented or over prepared may
help but what will make a difference is sometimes small things such as your
commitment, discipline, and taking what you do seriously.
“And I don’t
want to brag about myself but I believe this helped me in addition to being a
good listener who listened and implement in addition to being trained in a
productive environment.”
He added, “Our
aims are high, we don’t want to look for another Hadi but to the things Hadi
couldn’t do because we always aim high and our Saudi athletes can do it.”
SAOC sport
performance committee member Turki Almisibeih moderated the following session,
which focused on the importance of health and wellbeing.
Taekwondo
athlete Abrar Bukhari, also emphasized on the importance of taking care of
their nutrition and weight as martial art athletes are always on the watch to
keep their focus and weigh category stable. This puts on them a lot of pressure
contentiously but we need to learn how to control our stress and then how to
moderate these elements mentally and physically in our favor.
“It’s not easy
to plan for everything, we are athletes and we definitely need to focus on our
sport. I didn’t have enough resources to help me bring out the best in me. So I
started to educate myself with books and workshops and nutrition companies, as
we didn’t have someone who could help us with that,” said Bukhari.
Abdul-Aziz
Alnafisah, nutrition specialist at SAOC said considering the warm weather and
nature of the country, athletes should pay attention to their health and
fitness and balancing between them to ensure sustainable performance before,
during and after competitions.
Dr. Qasim
Almaidi, president of the Sport Medicine Federation, said, injuries tend to
vary depending on the sport itself and this requires the specialist to be aware
of what is needed. He added, “Providing programs in advance to prevent injuries
are crucial and has proved its success such as the programs delivered by the
FIFA.”
Lama Alfozan,
Saudi athlete committee member and fencer moderated the last session about
empowering women with the participation of chairman of the Women and Sports
Committee of the Olympic Council of Asia Sheikha Hayat Bint Abdul Aziz Al
Khalifa, SAOC Sport Federations Services Committee CEO Princess Delayel Bint
Naha Al Saud, and Olympic equestrian rider and athlete committee member Dalma
Malhas.
Sheikha Hayat at
the outset congratulated Princess Reema Bint Bandar Bin Sultan on the occasion
of her winning the membership of the IOC. She also lauded the efforts of
Minister of Sports Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Turki and Deputy Minister of Sports
Prince Fahd Bin Jalawi for the Kingdom’s advancement in the athletic sector
reaching the global level.
“The Gulf women
journey started in early 70s, Bahrain was leading in this field and we started
on an Arab level. Now it’s not only to participate but to compete and win
victories. Empowering women is developing her participation in a way to allow
her to be involved and make decision and to do that we need to provide her with
resources with the cooperation of the government, education sector and private
sectors.
“SAOC must put a
clear strategy that women sports must become recognized to ensure
sustainability, in addition to national federations. Women exposure in media
should be balanced and equal, because of the IOC gender equality review with 25
recommendations. These outcome and guidelines will save time during the
empowerment process,” said Sheikha Hayat.
Princess Delayel
also acknowledged the transformation of empowering women in Saudi sport,
growing the inclusiveness of females in 25 Saudi sport federations, in addition
to more than 2,400 Saudi women athletes representing the Saudi national team.
“Saudi women’s
sports have witnessed remarkable growth over the last decade, by winning 11
different medals in the 2019 Gulf Clubs Championship. There are 25 Saudi sports
federations, which have their female teams,” she said, adding that these
federations are working to create a stimulating environment for female athletes
in their respective federations.
In her speech,
Malhas, a member of the Saudi Equestrian Team and the Kingdom’s first female
youth Olympics medalist, said that her winning the bronze medal in the
Singapore Olympics 2010 was the turning point in her life that prepared her to
participate in international tournaments. “It had also contributed to the complete
transformation of my lifestyle,” she added.
“The future of
women, with the new vision to support the federation through asking them to
provide strategies for four years to empower and support women, and we will ask
them to provide a productive environment to and provide programs to all age
categories to take the women athlete from the participating level to the
competing level.
“The medal and
exposure had a great impact on my life, before I used to concentrate on certain
goals, now I’m mentally changed and I have a vision and this vision gave me the
motivation to do better,” said Malhas.
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/597310
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Tala Al-Jahlan,
Executive Director of Legal Affairs at The G20 Saudi Secretariat
August 31, 2020
Tala Al-Jahlan
has been the acting executive director of legal affairs at the G20 Saudi
Secretariat and heading the legal affairs and compliance department since this
August.
She spoke about
her role at the secretariat in an interview recently, saying that her team had an
essential role as it supported other departments to facilitate daily tasks,
organize relations locally and internationally and frame these relations on
clear legal grounds.
“We are the
result of our country’s and leadership investments in the youth, we are an
example of such support and empowerment,” she added. “I’m proud to be a product
of my country. I have been educated in Saudi Arabia and had my career in Saudi.
I have been taught and trained by Saudis.”
In addition to
her job at the G20 Saudi Secretariat, she has been pursuing an education in
commercial law at Prince Sultan University since 2019.
She studied for
a law degree at the university between 2006 and 2011 and, prior to her current
position, was a senior legal adviser at the G20 Saudi Secretariat from last
October until August this year.
She started her
career as an internship trainee at Al-Sulaim Al-Awaji and Partners Law Firm
between Sept. 2010 and April 2011, becoming a senior legal adviser at the same
firm between May 2011 and Oct. 2019.
Al-Jahlan has
represented international and Saudi Arabian corporations and families in
transactions connected to corporate restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, joint
ventures, shareholder agreements, foreign direct investment, facility
agreements, agency, and distributorship matters.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1727191/saudi-arabia
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Leadership
starts the day you are born, Kamala Harris tells South Asian women
31st August 2020
WASHINGTON:
Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's vice-presidential
candidate, has urged South Asian women to run for office and take up a
leadership role in their communities.
Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Harris are challenging
Republican incumbents President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in
the November 3 US election.
"To all the
young women who are watching this, I want you to know that leadership begins
the day you are born. You are never too young or too old to be a leader,"
said Harris, 55, at an event on Saturday.
Harris has
scripted history in US politics after she became the first Indian-American and
Black woman to get a major party's vice-presidential nomination.
"So get
involved in your community, run for office. Whatever you do, it matters, so
just lead," said the senator from California, in an audio message to the
virtual event 'South Asian Women in Leadership: Ushering a New Wave of
Diversity in the Biden-Harris Era' which was organised by South Asians for
Biden.
The event was
co-hosted by the American Impact Fund and the Indians for Biden National
Council.
Panelists at the
event included Dr Sadaf Jaffer, the first Muslim woman to serve as a mayor in
the US, Kesha Ram, the youngest Indian-American woman to be elected to
statewide office and Dr Nina Ahmad, candidate for Pennsylvania Auditor General.
Ahmed is vying
to be the first woman of colour to hold statewide office.
Harbir Bhatia,
who is running to be the first Sikh American woman in the Santa Clara City
Council in California, also participated in the event.
Harris described
each of the panelists as "incredible trailblazing women who are ready to
usher a new wave of leadership."
The session was
moderated by Mini Timmaraju, board member of Indian American Impact Fund.
"As you
know, my mother Shyamala Harris came (here) from India at age 19 to pursue her
dream of curing cancer. She dedicated her life to fighting for the promise of
America, just like Joe Biden has," the Indian-origin senator said.
Harris said
Biden's tenure will reflect America's strength in its diversity.
"Joe has
been proud to stand with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, and
is committed to making sure that the Biden Harris administration reflects the
diversity of America. As Joe Biden has said 'we are stronger because of our
diversity and not in spite of it'," Harris said.
"South
Asians for Biden is truly honoured to have Senator Kamala Harris provide
remarks at our South Asian Women in Leadership event," said Neha Dewan,
National Director of South Asians for Biden.
"Senator
Harris has been trailblazer throughout her time in public office, and her
selection as the Democratic nominee for vice president has particular
significance to both South Asian and Black women, who will be inspired to seek
public office in unprecedented numbers in the future," Dewan said.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2020/aug/31/leadership-starts-the-day-you-are-born-kamala-harris-tells-south-asian-women-2190591.html
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Afghan Women
Negotiators to Face Hardline Taliban In Peace Talks
AUG 31 2020
Their presence
at the negotiating table is significant in patriarchal Afghanistan, though they
will be outnumbered by the rest of the Afghan government's team of 16 men and
the Taliban's male-only side.
"The
Taliban have to understand that they are facing a new Afghanistan with which
they have to learn to live," said Fawzia Koofi, one of the negotiators and
a high-profile women's rights campaigner.
The politician
has survived two assassination attempts during her career -- the latest was
just weeks ago near the capital Kabul and came aer the Taliban and Afghan
government said they were ready for talks to begin.
"Being in
such an important role is not something which is very common in Afghanistan, so
you really have to find your way among those people who do not believe in a
woman's presence," Koofi told AFP before the shooting.
When the Taliban
ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, her husband was jailed and she was
threatened with stoning for wearing nail polish, she said.
Religious police
whipped women in the street if they wore anything other than an all-concealing
burqa, and those accused of adultery were sometimes executed at sports stadiums
aer Friday prayers.
Today, the
traditional patriarchal system remains the norm and life for most women in
rural areas has improved little since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the
Taliban, who banned girls from going to school and women from working.
disproportionately
low numbers.
Koofi is one of
a few women who held unoicial talks with the Taliban in 2019 and knows the
battle women negotiators will face.
"It's not
just about what you are talking," she said. "People look at what you
wear, whether your scarf is of the right size or not."
Washington
signed a deal with the Taliban in February committing to withdraw foreign
forces in return for a pledge from the insurgents to hold talks with the Afghan
government, aimed at ending the war.
Both sides have
said they are ready to fly to Doha for the talks aer a controversial prisoner
swap has been completed.
Islamic law
expert and negotiator Fatima Gailani, 66, told AFP that women were apprehensive
about negotiations with the Taliban.
"Every
woman in Afghanistan has a fear... we always have a fear that whenever there
are changes in Afghanistan and whenever there is a political change, always
women are hurt," said Gailani, a spokeswoman for the mujaheedin against
the Soviets in the 1980s and now the president of the Afghan Red Cross.
But she said she
has the support of the men on her team, who "believe in exactly what I
believe in".
First, though,
the talks should focus on "common values", such as Islam, and on
achieving a ceasefire in Afghanistan's conflict, which has killed tens of
thousands and le millions displaced since 2001.
"I'd like
very much to see an Afghanistan where you don't see yourself in danger... If we
don't achieve it now it will never happen," Gailani said.
The Taliban have
made only vague comments about women's rights, saying these will be protected
through Islamic values.
Another
negotiator, Habiba Sarabi, who was barred from working under Taliban rule and
forced to flee to Pakistan so she could continue to teach, wants to ensure
Afghanistan remains a republic and not a Taliban-run "emirate" where
religious law trumps constitutional rights.
line have
changed, despite the group's political leaders moving closer to peace talks
with the Afghan government.
"The
fighters here in Afghanistan have the same ideology, they have the same
behaviour," she said.
The other two
women on the negotiating team are Shahla Fareed, who is a lawyer, women's
rights activist and university lecturer; and Sharifa Zurmati, a former
broadcaster and local politician in the eastern province of Paktia.
https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/afghan-women-negotiators-to-face-hardline-taliban-in-peace-talks-880334.html
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/haleema-mustafa-hijab-diversity-model/d/122758