- By now, the fundamentalist and jihadist Taliban has taken firm control of Afghanistan ever since the US-led occupation forces exited from the war-ravaged landlocked country. The lightning-fast usurpation of the entire territory portends even more trouble for the females as the misogynistic and bigoted views of the Taliban are well-known. During its earlier regime, the Taliban perpetrating inhumanly prejudiced forceful restrictions on women sends a chill down the spine even now. The medieval thinking and despicable practices far away from the present-day modern notion will make a definite return is stating the obvious. Indications available so far only point to how suffocating living standards will become in the coming days is a foregone conclusion.
PC: International New York Times
- It is beyond anybody’s imagination as to how the Taliban views piling on miseries on women alone when every religion, one common binding force available in any society, under the earth never differentiates between the genders. Unfortunately, the Taliban taking umbrage under the Shariat Law and wantonly implementing illogical constraints targeting females is simply anachronistic and hence, unacceptable. Note that one of the most welcome features of the two decades of foreign occupation in the country was the freedom made available to females to live without having been subjected to any uncalled-for biases. That too well within the tenets of local sentiments not getting compromised inviting wrath of the mullahs.
- Unlike in the past, the resultant outcome was females were allowed a certain amount of freedom to live in a dignified manner. Such an arrangement worked wonders till the Taliban’s reentry completely altered the scenario in a matter of days. To their credit, few enterprisingly daring women are making efforts at raising a banner of resistance against the Taliban forces fearing the dark days of yore. Against this backdrop, when a recent image from Afghanistan that went viral shows a woman in a black hijab confronting a Talib pointing a gun at her chest sends across a refreshingly welcome message about women not easily letting go away their hard-earned rights and freedom. The disposition of the woman spoke so much. With her head held high, the lady speaking up to a Talib is worth appreciating and recognizing the steely resolve coursing through.
PC: Asma Zehra
- Several such dramatic images are emerging of women demonstrating extraordinary courage to protest against how everything is being stripped away from them by the new regime, at the barrel of guns, beatings, whippings, and religious despotisms. A district governor until a month ago aptly described the Taliban control as thus no women exist there anymore, not even in the cities. They are all imprisoned in their homes. A stinging comment indeed as females fear not only for their own bleak future staring at them but also worry about next-generation daughters as well. As poignant as it might appear, the moot point to ponder over here is for how long such open demonstrations will be allowed to play out. Time only will reveal.
