Adopting Zahir Shah's 1964 Constitution Isn't Enough; To Gain International Support, the Taliban Must Fully Establish Democracy and Gender Equality
By Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam
29 September 2021
Taliban Must Establish Democracy and Gender
Equality If They Truly Want to attract International Support
1.
Taliban will adopt some provisions of Zahir Shah’s 1964 constitution
only for a limited time.
2.
The 1964 constitution granted Afghan women the right to vote for the first
time, paving the way for greater political participation.
3.
A senior Taliban leader claimed that cutting hands and executions would
be resumed, but such punishments would not be carried out in public.
4.
When the Taliban announced their caretaker government earlier this
month, all high-ranking positions were allocated to hardliners, with no women
included.
5.
The Taliban extremists want to maintain their harsh attitude while also
making it stronger and more difficult than before.
6.
If the Taliban want international assistance, it must democratise its
system, ensuring that gender and minority equality are fully honoured.
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When it was reported that the Taliban will temporarily adopt the
constitution of Muhammad Zahir Shah’s era, some social media users argued that
the Taliban were moving away from extremism and toward moderation and that the
international community should back them up. I was somewhat startled to learn
that the Taliban may be labelled moderate solely because they intend to enforce
some sections of the 1964 constitution ratified by Zahir Shah, but that any
content that opposes Taliban ideology will be erased. The reports and evidence
listed below must be scrutinised more closely in order to assess whether it is
not too soon to designate the Taliban as moderates.
Maulvi Abdul Hakim Shari, the Taliban's acting justice minister, said in
a statement that the Islamists aim to reintroduce former King Muhammad Zahir
Shah’s 1964 constitution, which was established during the “golden age of
democracy”, but only for a limited time and with numerous amendments. Women
were granted the right to vote under this constitution. At the same time, Abdul
Hakim stated that provisions of the constitution that are incompatible with
Sharia Law and the Islamic Emirate's ideals will be repealed.
What is it about the 1964 constitution that the Taliban are implementing
rather than enacting new laws, and why is that period referred to as the
"Golden Age" by the Taliban? When the world's superpowers did not
intervene in Afghanistan about six decades ago, the country had a short-lived
constitutional monarchy led by King Muhammad Zahir Shah.
Zahir Shah [1914-2007] ratified the constitution a year after taking
power in 1963, and it was implemented until the end of his reign in 1973,
giving Afghanistan a decade of parliamentary democracy. It is regarded as the
most 'peaceful' period in the history of Afghanistan. Zahir Shah advocated for
the repeal of ‘purdah’ for women and used foreign funds to improve the infrastructure
of the country. He was successful in balancing conflicting Soviet and Western
interests. Prince Daud, Zahir Shah’s cousin and brother-in-law, overthrew him
in a coup while he was on vacation in Italy in 1973.
The 1964 constitution granted Afghan women the right to vote for the
first time, paving the way for greater political participation. This, however,
is incompatible with the Taliban’s extreme ideology.
Between 1996 until 2001, the Taliban, who assumed control of Afghanistan
in mid-August, had a "brutal period" in which women were virtually
banned from public life, including work and education. After the former Soviet
Union took over in the 1980s, the country descended into civil war, with the
formation of a hardliner Taliban regime, which was followed by another US-led
invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and now, after all of this, the Taliban have
opted to adopt the same constitution.
The Taliban, on the other hand, have decided not to fully reinstall the
old monarchy, instead opting for a text endorsed in 2004 by President Hamid
Karzai’s interim government, which envisaged a presidency and referenced
women’s equality. Taliban authorities have also stated that girls’ schools will
resume very soon, in an attempt to assuage public anxieties. They will be
housed in a “proper and safe” environment, and their education will be
arranged.
In an interview with the Associated Press last week, Mullah Turabi, a
senior Taliban leader and one of the group’s founders, claimed that cutting
hands and executions would be resumed, but that these sentences would most
likely not be carried out in public. “No one has the right to tell us how our
laws should be written”. Mullah Turabi stated, “We shall follow Islam and
construct our policies in accordance with the Qur'an."
The intentions of the Taliban are today difficult to believe. Some
individuals, on the other hand, are relieved that the Taliban are dedicated to
a gentler and more comprehensive policy this time around, as Taliban leaders
have often stated in the news.
However, when the Taliban announced their caretaker government earlier
this month, all high-ranking positions were allocated to hardliners, with no
women included. However, because the Taliban is still forming its Emirate
system and is facing widespread criticism, it is temporarily announcing the
ability of women to vote in order to silence some detractors. If you read the
Talibani ideology, you’ll see that women’s rights aren’t as hopeful as some
have hoped.
You must have been aware that the international community had warned the
Taliban administration that its leadership would be put to the test based on
their conduct. The Taliban government's stance toward women and minorities, in
particular, will determine whether the international community should recognise
and work with them. Is the international community's pressure on the Taliban,
nevertheless, visible? To answer this topic, one must consider the Taliban’s
current actions and role.
Despite international pressure, the Taliban named exclusively men on
their list of deputy ministers when they published the names of their cabinet’s
deputy ministers. It is evident from this that the Taliban extremists want to
maintain their harsh attitude while also making it stronger and more difficult
than before. The Taliban has doubled the male monopoly by announcing the names
of the deputy ministers.
On the other hand, the impact of international pressure can be seen in
the fact that when Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid was asked
why minorities and women were not included in the cabinet, he defended the
Taliban, saying that his cabinet also includes minority representatives, such
as Hazara minority group members. Women will most likely be included in the
government later, according to Zabihullah Mujahid. Of course, the Taliban
spokesman is making such statements due to international pressure, and there
are several reasons for this.
By making remarks like the Taliban government spokesman urging the
international community to recognise the Taliban administration, the Taliban
want to attract international support. According to Mujahid, “Governments of
the United Nations, European countries, Asian and Islamic countries must
recognise our government and establish diplomatic relations with us. There’s no
need to hold back this decision.”
However, the impact of global pressure has yet to be demonstrated in the
Taliban’s actions. To put it another way, the Taliban have yet to gain the full
trust of the international community. If the Taliban want international
assistance, it must democratise its system, ensuring that gender and minority
equality are fully honoured and that all citizens have an equal opportunity to
live in peace and security while exercising their religious, cultural,
linguistic, gender, and ethnic rights. However, an examination of the Taliban’s
philosophy reveals that such expectations are worthless.
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A regular Columnist with NewAgeIslam.com,
Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi Dehlvi is a Classical Islamic scholar and
English-Arabic-Urdu Translator.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/zahir-shah-afghanistan-constitution/d/125465
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