Taliban say burqa is not mandatory for women, hijab is

doha:

The Taliban announced for the first time since taking office on Tuesday that they would not make the full burqa compulsory for women as they did when they last ruled Afghanistan.

Under the brutal terrorist regime of 1996-2001, girls’ schools were closed, women were prevented from traveling and working, and women were forced to wear a full-coverage burqa in public.

“The burqa is not the only hijab (headscarf) that (can) be observed, there are several types of hijab that are not limited to the burqa,” Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the group’s political bureau in Doha, told Britain’s Doha. Sky News.

The burqa is a one-piece overgarment that covers the entire head and body, with a mesh panel to see through.

Shaheen did not specify other types of hijab that would be considered acceptable by the Taliban.

In addition to clothing concerns, numerous countries and human rights groups have sounded the alarm over the plight of women’s education in Afghanistan now that it is in the hands of the hard-line militants who marched into the capital Kabul on Sunday.

But Shaheen also tried to offer reassurance on the subject.

Women “can get education from primary to higher education — that means university. We announced this policy at international conferences, the Moscow conference and here at the Doha conference (on Afghanistan),” Shaheen said.

Thousands of schools in areas captured by the Taliban were still operational, he added.

The previous Taliban government imposed the strictest interpretations of Sharia and established a religious police force to suppress “vices”.

Taliban courts handed out extreme sentences, including chopping off the hands of thieves and stoning women accused of adultery.

(This story was not edited by NewsMadura staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)