Adding to the series of its ridicules laws against women, Taliban has now ordered female news anchors to cover their face while news reading. As per the sources, this new rule is meant to be followed by all the media houses. The rule is seen as yet another step of Taliban to limit women’s rights and drag them back in time. Female anchors seem to be furious after the new instruction by the Taliban and are voicing the same. “ Taliban is afraid of educated women and hence doesn’t want us to be associated with media” said one while an another female anchor said, “ first Taliban deprived women of education, and now they don’t want us to progress”.
The instruction for women to cover their face while news reading seems to be guided by ‘ Shariya law ’ which says women must keep their body and face covered in public. Social media too is heated up with the debate over the instruction. While women are expressing their anger and disappointment, there is a section of people who surprisingly stand in support.
However, it is not the first time when Taliban has come up with such instructions for women. Time and again it has made such rules which clearly suggests that Taliban is deliberately trying to demean women and make them powerless, taking away their rights. Instructions like women cannot travel in flights without men, women must have a man’s company while traveling a distance more than 72 km, women are not supposed to play music in cars, girls banished from attending school and making ‘Burka’ and covering the face mandatory in public are few examples to support the statement.
Right after taking charge in Afghanistan, Taliban said women would be granted more and more freedom under Talibani governance, however, all what it has done suggests otherwise. But then what else can be expected .