Draconian Edict for Afghan Women Recalls Taliban Era

So, the Taliban may have been kicked out of power more than a decade ago (although everyone knows that they are still present in the country), but that does not mean that this country is fully free from the restrictions that had been imposed during the days of the Taliban.

In the northern region of Deh Salah of Banghian province, an edict decreed by clerics, has limited the rights of women rather severely, recalling the days of the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan. It calls for limitations that include a woman not being allowed to leave the house without a male accompanying them, shutting cosmetic stores on the grounds that it promotes prostitution,

This edict is seen by many locals as a "fatwa", or a religious edict.

Ironically, Deh Salah once was a bastion of opposition to the Taliban regime.

In the meantime, in yet another setback for Afghani women, the Wolesi Jirga (the Lower House of Parliament) approved a proposed law that would lower the percentage of provincial seats reserved for women.

Last year, President Karzai endorsed a "code of conduct" law that protected men from being prosecuted for rape within a marriage, and also gave a green to allow men to beat their wives under certain circumstances.

 "The government and the Taliban have a shared view when it comes to women," said Shukria Barakzai,a  female member of Parliament who is thinking of making a run for the Presidency in next year's scheduled election.

These measures had been designed to counter-balance the emphasis on strict-male domination of the society that the Taliban had imposed.  Now, many people are viewing this latest bit of news as a signal that the shadow imposed by the Taliban is once again falling upon the country, slowly but surely.

This is a troubling trend that appears to be picking up momentum as American forces prepare to complete the withdrawal of troops scheduled for next year.


"Taliban-style edict for women spreads alarm in Afghan district" by Rob Taylor and Folad Hamdard of Reuters

By Rob Taylor and Folad Hamdard  

KABUL/DEH SALAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - One of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's main religious advisers will not overturn a decree issued by clerics in the north reimposing Taliban-style curbs on women, in another sign of returning conservatism as NATO forces leave the country.  

Just days after the United States launched a $200 million program to boost the role of women in Afghanistan, a senior member of the country's top religious leaders' panel said he would not intervene over a draconian edict issued by clerics in the Deh Salah region of Baghlan province.  

Deh Salah, near Panshir, was a bastion of anti-Taliban sentiment prior to the ousting of the austere Islamist government by the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in 2001.  

But the eight article decree, issued late in June, bars women from leaving home without a male relative, while shutting cosmetic shops on the pretext they were being used for prostitution - an accusation residents and police reject.  

"There is no way these shops could have stayed open. Shops are for business, not adultery," Enayatullah Baligh, a member of the top religious panel, the Ulema Council, and an adviser to the president, told Reuters late on Friday.  

Residents of Deh Salah described the order as a "fatwa", or religious edict, although only senior clerics in Kabul should issue such a binding religious order.  

But underscoring opposition to the edict, a mayor was shot dead by a teenaged shop owner while trying to enforce the order, which also barred women from clinics without a male escort, threatening unspecified "punishments" if they disobeyed.  

Afghanistan has one of the world's highest infant mortality rates and more than a decade after the U.S.-backed toppling of the Taliban, it still ranks as one of the worst nations to be born a girl.  

Under Taliban rule from 1996 until 2001, women were forced to wear the head-to-toe covering burqa and sometimes had fingers cut off for wearing nail varnish.  

The decree, signed by a conservative cleric in the area named Zmarai, contained a warning of holy war if authorities tried to block it: "If officials do react to our demands, we will start a jihad."  

There is growing fear among many people in Afghanistan that the withdrawal of NATO-led forces and efforts to reach a political agreement with the Taliban to end the 12-year-old war could undermine hard-won freedoms for women. 

 "LIKE THE TALIBAN AGAIN"  

In the deeply conservative, male-dominated country where religion often holds more sway than legal authority, religious leaders have often been a major barrier to women obtaining the rights granted to them under the constitution.  

In Deh Salah, home to about 80,000 people, most of them ethnic Tajiks rather that the majority Pashtuns, the main community from which the Taliban draw support, a cosmetic shop owner named Abdullah stood before his business - now hidden behind plywood sheeting - and said clerics were increasingly flexing their muscles. 

"They want to bring back the Taliban days. If they have their way they will take control in this district and make life impossible," said Abdullah.  

"We are poor people and they have closed me down. I want the government to take action or we are going to have mullahs running the place like the Taliban again," he said.  

Shah Agha Andarabi, a doctor, said the rumor of prostitution and adultery in Deh Salah was without foundation and was being used as an excuse by conservative clerics to crack down on women.  

"There is nothing going on in these shops and I guarantee that. There was no proof. They just wanted to close these shops to women," he said.  

Deh Salah police commander Colonel Abdul Ahad Nabizada also rejected the claims underpinning the decree, but said the mayor who was shot while closing the shops had been frightened into action by the threat of jihad against him if he was deemed to be blocking the edict. 

"Everyone here is Muslim. We haven't seen any behavior like they claim in this small city. There were women coming to get their needs in the market and conservative people were against it," said Nabizada.  

U.S. aid officials this week announced a $200 million assistance package for Afghan women, to be matched by other international donors allied with the NATO-led coalition in the country, due to end combat operations by the end of next year.  

Human rights and women's groups have accused Karzai's government of backtracking on pledges to protect women's freedoms, highlighted by parliamentary opposition to a presidential decree outlawing violence against women.  

The government also appointed a former Taliban official to the country's new human rights body, while criminal laws under consideration in parliament would prevent women and girls testifying against family members accused of abusing them.  

(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Robert Birsel)

http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-style-edict-women-spreads-alarm-afghan-district-054400261.html

Afghan women suffer setback as parliament lowers quota for female lawmakers

By Atia Abawi, Correspondent, NBC News 

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan’s parliament has passed a law lowering the proportion of provincial council seats reserved for women. 

The Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament, this week approved a revised electoral law that included the reduction of the guaranteed proportion of the 420 provincial council seats allotted to females from 25 percent down to 20 percent. 

The purpose of guaranteeing some seats for women was to ensure female representation in the male-dominated society where women and girls are still often treated as second-class citizens. 

Many worry this is yet another step in restricting women’s rights in a country that has made many strides in this area during the last decade. After the U.S.-led military invasion that toppled the austere Taliban regime 12 years ago, women and girls were given the opportunity to rejoin society. They were given the allocated seats in the country’s legislature to help with the process of integration. 

They were also given the right to work outside the home and millions of girls went back to school – privileges they did not have under the Taliban. 

But amid reports of possible negotiations with the Taliban and attempts to bring them back into the political fold, the new law makes it clear it isn’t just the Taliban that women need to worry about – it’s their own government. 

Human Rights Watch said the decision – one of many similar recent moves by various government bodies – indicated “a broad-based attack on women’s rights.” 

“It’s perverse that Afghanistan’s parliament is devoting its time and energies to attacking women’s hard-fought legal protections,” said Brad Adams, the Asia director for HRW. “Afghanistan’s foreign donors should be loud and clear that they won’t stand by while Afghan women’s hard-won rights are swept away.” 

Female parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai said that the fact that women kept as many seats as they did was an achievement. 

“In the last three years, I should say that [Afghan] women have been lost from the attention of international community and civil society. They are not getting as much support as they had in the past,” she said. “It’s not a good step that the seats were reduced, but on the other hand this 20 percent is still a big deal for us, we risked even losing the 20 percent.” 

The latest decision comes after conservatives in the upper house of parliament, Mishrano Jirga, surreptitiously removed a law that stipulated there should be at least 25 percent female representation in the provincial council earlier this year. Female politicians discovered what had happened and fought to have the decision recalled.  

Barakzai said women should not take the decrease in seats allocated to them sitting down, and should campaign harder to win the seats independently. 

“They should do the work themselves and not wait for others to give it to them,” she added. “It is their job and their duty.” 

Some Afghans agreed with the new law and applauded the decision. 

Muhammad Moeen Marastial, a former member of parliament, called the reduction “reasonable” and said that it fairly represented the country’s status quo in regards to gender equality. 

“It is dependent on our society’s conditions, and for now it is hard for women to work and represent themselves. So because of the current situation the step taken by the parliament is a right decision.” Marastial said. “Also, if you look at the parliaments around the world, you will be able to find they are only 20 to 30 percent made up of women.” 

But Marastial added that he believes parliament should do more in the future to give women more opportunities and create more equality between men and women. 

Kabul mechanic Mohammad Daoud said he is fine with the lessening of female representation and added that they should reduce male representation as well. 

“They should end the parliament and provincial councils all together,” the 42-year-old said. “What have they done for our society? They are useless and just an extra expense for our government.”

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/18/19534549-afghan-women-suffer-setback-as-parliament-lowers-quota-for-female-lawmakers?lite

Afghanistan's women wary as Taliban creeps back into political life

By Sohel Uddin, Producer, NBC News 

KABUL, Afghanistan -- As American and NATO forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year, some fear the Afghan government's efforts to bring the Taliban into the political fold may mean a step back in time for the country's women. 

After the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom toppled the militant Taliban regime 12 years ago, girls' schools reopened, burqas were no longer compulsory and many women went back to work. So when the Afghan government last week appointed a former Taliban official as a commissioner on the newly established independent human rights commission, many were shocked. 

Abdul Rahman Hotak, nominated for the post by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, was the editor of Taliban newspaper "Afghan Sunrise" and worked for the group's education directorate during its rule – an alarming choice, some say, for someone tasked with championing the rights of women who were denied so many freedoms under the Taliban. 

Hotak also opposes Karzai's proposed Elimination of Violence Against Women law (EVAW), which would make domestic and public violation against women punishable by law. Criticized for being un-Islamic, it has been languishing in Afghanistan's parliament since 2009. 

"I want to help the women… I want to try to tell people that they are our mothers, our sisters, our daughters," Hotak told NBC News, claiming that he actually championed women's rights during the Taliban regime and asked them to allow girls to go to school. 

He said his ideas and politics were not in line with the Taliban's and that he was compelled to work for them because there was "no other option when there is a government like that." 

As for opposing EVAW, he said he believes that if most politicians are not in agreement about a piece of legislation then it must mean it is flawed. Nonetheless, his appointment does not sit well with some. 

"We need the human rights commissioner to be independent and we ask the president to rethink his choice … It is not a good choice for an ex-Taliban to be in this role," said Shukria Barakzai, a member of parliament who hopes to run for president in next year's election.  

Barakzai, known as "the woman feared by both NATO and the Taliban" for her outspoken views, has been fighting for women's rights for years. 

She believes promoting people like Hotak gives the Taliban and other conservative groups a "green light" to strike political deals that would hold women back further – deals designed to make peace more attractive to Taliban leaders. "They will not join forces but they will benefit from each other," she said. 

"All these years it is not only the Taliban who have been problematic for women's rights but equally the government, members of parliament and the legislative committee," Barakzai said. 

Just this past May, conservatives in parliament surreptitiously removed a law which stipulated there should be at least 25 percent female representation in the upper house. Female politicians fought to have the law reinstated when they discovered the move. A spokesman at the presidential palace would not comment but said the reinstatement was waiting to be approved by the upper house and the president. 

Additionally, in 2012 Karzai endorsed a "code of conduct" law that protects men from being prosecuted for rape within a marriage, and allows husbands to beat their wives under certain circumstances.

"The government and the Taliban have a shared view when it comes to women," Barakzai said. 

However, after facing years of hurdles, Barakzai now welcomes the Taliban in Afghan politics. "I just don't want to see any more violence – that is why I would rather have the Taliban in parliament. It is the only way to end the killing." She believes if the Taliban were part of the government, they would be forced to follow the law and adopt democracy. They would have to put an end to their violent principles, she says. 

"The only difference between the Taliban then and the Taliban now is that they no longer wear turbans, but are dressed in smart suits. However the principles are the same as before," she said. "But we will civilize them." 

For some, like student Halima Rashidi, it doesn't matter who is in charge – the outcome is all that matters. 

"I don't think that only people who are in the government right now can change the future of women. A Taliban or mujahedeen can also do that, too. It is not important for me who is running the show but I need protection and my rights, peace and security and a better future."

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/13/19439164-afghanistans-women-wary-as-taliban-creeps-back-into-political-life?lite