Grim Experiment In Control Of Humans
Mareaya Fayaz
The Taliban are conducting an appalling experiment in modern history. They have banned art. They have banned music. They have banned all films and foreign drama series. According to the Taliban, all this is being done so that nothing can jeopardize the Afghan people’s “mental and psychological stability”.
This indeed is an extraordinary harrowing experiment in the control of humans in a supposedly free society. At least till now, the Taliban do not claim that the entire Afghanistan is a jail for all those who live there.
The Taliban came to power about seven and a half months ago. Their control of humans is the rarest of its kind in contemporary times. It may take at least a few years to examine the impact of these severe restrictions upon the Afghan people. All those in Kashmir who were hitting the ecstasy button because the Taliban have come to power in Afghanistan must do a serious rethink on what these restrictions will mean for the Afghans.
No Education For Girls Aged 12 Or More Because Taliban Can’t Decide The Uniform
Education for girls aged 12 and more is still banned by the Taliban. Girls cannot attend school because the Taliban still have not taken a decision on female students’ uniforms in accordance with “Sharia law and Afghan custom.” This needs to sink in. Girls are studying in all countries in the Gulf and in all Islamic nations. But they cannot study in Afghanistan because the Taliban cannot decide what the girls should wear to school.
How lucky do you consider yourself that you live at a place where you get to go where ever you want to, whenever you want to, and however you want to? Life is so easy for us. We are living the way we want to live, enjoying with family and friends. Not everyone gets to enjoy this freedom. In Afghanistan, Taliban commanders are actively enacting a slew of discriminatory policies effectively eliminate women’s involvement in public life. Such steps make women like me shiver with fear. When I talk to my friends about life for women in Afghanistan, we all seem to be rendered speechless with horror. Sadly, where women’s education is concerned, there isn’t even a hint of a turnaround in the seven months since the Taliban have been in power. The brief ray of hope was extinguished after the Taliban abruptly reversed their decision to allow Afghan girls to return to high schools. Girls cannot study because the Taliban cannot decide the uniform that they must wear to school.
Afghan parents and girls reacted angrily and disappointedly to the last-minute change. Many had expressed their delight about returning to the school. Taliban militants privately admit that among their most conservative sections, female education is still a contentious topic. One must take time to think about what this means for the society. What do uneducated mothers mean for a society? Today, in the 21st century, one shudders to think about the fate of a society whether all mothers are illiterate.
I, my sisters, my friends – all of us are so full of gratitude to Allah that we are not among those lakhs of Afghan women who are now living a life without any hope. It is extremely sad that girls should not be allowed to go to school based on the harshest interpretation of the Islamic laws. The Taliban have made the uniform as the reason to deny the basic right of a person to seek education. They are snuffing out the future of little girls. If the state of affairs continues the same way, these innocent girls will never know their potential. It is so tragic.
Taliban militants admit that among their most conservative sections, female education is still a contentious topic. Today, in the 21st century, one shudders to think about the fate of a society whether all mothers are illiterate
How We Are Getting Impacted
The Taliban Solution To Harassment Of Women In Kashmir
This authoritarian regime of Taliban has made sure that everything that they decree must be followed as if it is written in stone. Look at the psyche of the men imposing these rules. Their psyche is such that they feel that a child can make a grown man feel attracted, hence the child must be locked up.
Should men like these get to govern a country? I may say it’s a big NO. I have discussed this with many fellow Kashmiris. They share the same viewpoint.
But even within our own society, I find different shades of opinion. Recently, a questionnaire was forwarded to me by a friend. The study pertained to “prevalence of street harassment among women”.
The first question was whether I have face street harassment. I wrote yes.
The second question: “If never, what prevented you from street harassment?”
The following were the options.
1. Seldom go outside
2. Observe hijab
3. Accompanied by male family members while going outside
4. Any other.
To most people, these options might seem ordinary. But to an educated woman like me, this was clearly unfortunate. It showed the warped thinking of the person who is conducting this so-called study. The study was not bothered with educating the respondents that harassing women and girls is a bad thing. Rather, its thrust was that if you don’t want to get harassed by men, you should do the following.
Restrict yourself to the four walls of your house
Always observe hijab
Always be accompanied by male members while going outside.
Hence, even within Kashmir, the solution that some of our so-called social protectors are offering to us is the Taliban Solution. It is extremely saddening to observe that the impact of Taliban’s dystopic vision seems to have intruded into the minds of some Kashmiris. For everything that is wrong, clean chits are given to males, and the women are made to bear the entire burden of the blame.
Need To Examine Closely: Where Are We Headed?
According to a UN report, women’s access to health is a major part of the unfolding humanitarian crises in Afghanistan. Women with more complex needs like pregnancy face major access issues. If women are not accompanied by men, they cannot access medical treatment. They cannot see a doctor, which sometimes leads to more deterioration in the health of these women. Taliban have made sure that women are treated as sub-humans, or not completely human. They are not able to work. They are not able to study. They are not even able to visit a doctor by themselves. In a report of World Health Organization (WHO) titled ‘Voices Of The Poor” in Pakistan, it was stated that women and children are unwilling to travel alone. In Baluchistan, women say they are not “allowed” to travel to hospital without their husbands.
It is heartbreaking that women have to obey this rule even if their health is critical. After centuries of denial of their rights, women in Pakistan are even unwilling to travel alone to see a doctor even if they are in a very bad state.
In the same report, it was noted that in Pakistan, some women said that they do not want to go to the hospital alone because, being illiterate, they will be unable to describe their condition to the hospital staff.
This further underlines how important education is. By denying education to girls, the Taliban are denying to them the right to seek treatment. This again amounts to treating women as if they are not humans, but animals
