After making head-to-toe burqa mandatory for women, now the Taliban has issued a new dictate on Islamic veils. Today the Taliban authorities have declared that women will not be allowed to wear coloured Hijab.
According to reports on social media, female students who were wearing coloured hijab or scarves were not allowed to enter a university in Kabul today. Reportedly the Taliban authorities said that “coloured scarves are not allowed”.
The Taliban have stopped coloured scarves female students from entering a university in Kabul & saying “coloured scarves are not allowed” pic.twitter.com/xfMkpz4jAh
— Hizbullah Khan (@HizbkKhan) May 18, 2022
Videos posted on social media showed Taliban operatives standing near the gate of the university and guiding the women out who were wearing coloured Hijab. Only women with black veil were allowed to enter the university, the video suggests. Despite the fact that all the women were wearing burqa, those who were covering their head with coloured scarves were not allowed to enter the university.
The Taliban prevented women from entering the university with colored scarves! pic.twitter.com/oDj9ZCB0M5
— Middle East News (@Draganov313) May 18, 2022
Reportedly, the Taliban prevented any woman wearing coloured clothing or coloured scarf from entering the university. According to the students, the Taliban told them that only black clothing is allowed for female students, and they will not be allowed to enter the university if they come in any other coloured cloths.
A Taliban member addressed the students in coloured Hijabs in front of the university and explained them why they should only wear black scarves. But the women objected to this, saying that it is difficult to wear black scarves during hot weather. But the Taliban didn’t relent and the women were forced to leave the university.
This action by the Taliban authorities came on the same day when a senior minister had claimed that they are not forcing women to wear Hijab. In an on-camera interview with CNN, acting interior minister of Afghanistan Sirajuddin Haqqani had said that his govt has not imposed mandatory Hijab in the country, but rather it is a religious order and they are only advising women to follow it.
“Hijab is an order according to the Islamic Sharia,” he had said. Claiming that they are not forcing anyone to wear Hijab, Haqqani had added, “Within the Islamic government, we are committed to the rights of everyone. We are not forcing women to wear hijab, but we are advising them and preaching to them from time to time. Hijab is also (to) create a dignified environment for women’s education and work, hijab is not compulsory but is an Islamic order that everyone should implement.”
Earlier this month, Taliban chief and Afghanistan’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had issued a decree making an all-covering burqa mandatory for women in Afghanistan. The decree was released by Taliban authorities at a function in Kabul. “They should wear a chador (head-to-toe burqa) as it is traditional and respectful”, the decree said.
