Taliban Claim That Afghanistan Is Now Safe For Hindus, Sikhs And Christians, But Is It Even Safe For Muslims?
The
Taliban Had Urged Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan to Return to the Country
Main
Points:
1. 2. They
claim that security issues have been solved and now Afghanistan is safe for
minorities.
2. 4. Afghan
Muslims taking refuge in Pakistan do not want to return.
3. 5. Turkey
has deported unwilling Afghan refugees to Kabul.
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By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
28 July
2022
Sikh leaders thanked the Taliban for preventing the terror attack on
Gurdwara in Kabul.
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The Afghan
Taliban have claimed that security issues have been resolved and the country is
now stable and safe for the Hindus and Sikhs. They have therefore urged the
Sikh and Hindu community to return to Afghanistan. This is a good sign that the
Taliban have assured the minority communities of the country of their
protection. On June 18 this year, the Taliban security guards had thwarted an
ISIS attack on a Gurudwara in Kabul. But the bigger question is: Are the Afghan
Muslims safe in Afghanistan and will the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and
Turkey return to Afghanistan?
The answer
is no. According to a news report 1.5 million Afghan refugees living in
Pakistan do not want to return to their homeland. There are 1.2 million
registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan who migrated to Pakistan during the US
occupation. Ironically, the migration of Afghan nationals to Pakistan did not
stop after the Taliban government was established. About 2 50, 000 more Afghans
have migrated to Pakistan since August last year when the Taliban captured
power. This shows that the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan has meant no change
for the better for the Afghan people.
Apart from
Pakistan, Iran hosts 7 lakh Afghan refugees. In Turkey, about 5 lakh Afghan
refugees are living and the government of Turkey is deporting them without
their consent. In January 2022, Turkey deported 28,000 Afghan refugees who did
not have valid documents and Turkey considered them a security threat. In May
2022, Turkey deported another 1025 Afghan refugees to Kabul. In June 2022, 136
Afghan citizens wanted to take refuge in Turkey but they were sent back. All
this shows that the situation in Afghanistan is not stable or normal and more
and more Afghans are leaving Afghanistan and seeking refuge in Pakistan, Turkey
and Iran.
Therefore,
the claim of the Taliban that all is hunky dory in Afghanistan is only an
eyewash and an attempt to bully the world community.
The appeal
to the Sikh and the Hindu minority was made obviously keeping in mind the
conference on Afghanistan held in Uzbekistan on 26 July in which many issues
including the safety and security of ethnic and religious minorities, girls'
education and liberty to women were supposed to be raised. The conference
China, Russia, US, UK, Japan and other Asian countries participated. This was
the reason the Taliban had a couple of days ago said that the girls' schools
were only temporarily closed and as soon as the issue of uniform and syllabus
is resolved the schools will be reopened.
The truth
is that the Taliban have not made any sensible change in their attitude towards
the women and towards the media. Recently the Taliban ordered the female
employees to recommend male members of their family for their replacement
because they don't want allow women to work in government offices. Women
journalists have already been fired and some of them have been compelled to
open roadside eateries for a living. The order of accompanying a mahram, a male
escort and of a full covering veil for women is another blow to the freedom and
rights of women. The girls are not allowed to study beyond grade six and many
college going girls are now languishing at homes depressed.
The
economic condition of Afghanistan is also at the worst level and millions of
children are on the verge of starvation. Billions of dollars of Afghanistan are
lying frozen in American and European banks due to the rigidity of the Taliban.
It cannot pay salaries of the government employees on time. The US-Taliban
talks on frozen 7 billion dollars has had a setback because the Taliban has not
agreed to some terms for its release. The US insists that the Taliban should
change some political appointments in Afghan Central Bank as the US has imposed
sanctions on an official of the bank but the Taliban is not ready to remove
him.
Therefore,
in spite of resolving issues of economic importance, the Taliban government is
preoccupied with religious and women's issues. It seems that the Taliban have
decided not to allow Afghan girls to study in schools, colleges and
universities and is trying to buy time.
Because of
its rigid policies on veil, beard and dress code and oher restrictions on media
and entertainment, the Afghan refugees do not want to return to Afghan as it
holds no future for them. There is no employment, no personal freedom and no
security in the country. Trigger-happy Taliban roam the streets and shoot anyone
on slightest violation of their prescribed dress code or sharia laws. A girl
was shot dead in Kabul last year for not wearing veil. This ISIS kind of
governance and mode of dispensing justice reminds one of the tribal culture of
pre-Islam era.
Therefore,
the rigid ideology that Taliban follows has proved to be a big hindrance in the
political and economic development of the country. Media, women and children
are the worst victims of this rigidity. The Taliban are in a dilemma because
now they are in the government and have to honour many global democratic
commitments and can not work in an isolated manner. They are accountable to the
world community and sooner or later they will have to join the global
mainstream to develop and progress as a nation.
URL: https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/taliban-hindus-sikhs-christians-muslims/d/127587
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