Acting Minister of Vice and Virtue Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, in a meeting with Afghan figures residing in Europe who were visiting Kabul, said that women’s rights are secured within the framework of Islamic law in the country.
During the meeting, the acting minister also said that no one will be allowed to violate women’s rights in the country.
Hekmatullah Hekmat, the head of the Union of Afghans in Sweden, told TOLOnews: “It is important to discuss issues with the leader, including women’s rights, the issue of girls’ schools, the establishment of a government acceptable to all Afghans, and other issues.”
“Our main goal of coming to the country is to open the gates of education to girls and also to establish a system that is acceptable to all Afghans,” said Malek Afghan, one of the Afghans residing in Europe who came to Kabul.
Meanwhile, the acting Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, who had a separate meeting with the representatives and elders of the Union of Afghans residing in Europe, has asked all Afghans living abroad to return to Afghanistan and participate in the country’s reconstruction and progress.
“Undoubtedly, Afghans who are abroad play an important and fundamental role when they come to Kabul and take a message away from here, but those who want to come to Afghanistan worry about where their children will study,” Salim Peigir, a political analyst, told TOLOnews.
“Their difference in viewpoint is that the Islamic Emirate wants them to come to Afghanistan and assures them of their personal and financial security; however, those who have studied up to master’s and doctorate levels and have a lifetime of governance experience also expect the government to create conducive conditions for them to serve in the government,” said Jannat Fahim Chakari, a university scholar.
Earlier, the political deputy of the Prime Minister’s office told these representatives and elders of the Union of Afghans residing in Europe that after the Islamic Emirate came to power in Afghanistan, efforts to divide the country have failed. The Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, also asked the delegates from Europe to show the current realities of the country to the world.
The International Peace Institute (IPI) together with the Atlantic Council and Malala Fund and other organizations, hosted a discussion on the situation of women and “Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan” on March 8th.
IPI in a statement said that the caretaker government in Afghanistan has issued over 85 decrees focused on curtailing girls’ and women’s rights.
The participants in this discussion asked for international support of women in Afghanistan.
Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzai in the discussion called on the world not to forget about Afghan women.
“This is important that we as a global community stand with them, because if we are willing to show that we are looking away from the Afghan women, it sends a devastating message to the women and girls in Afghanistan, but also to girls everywhere,” she said.
“It’s the only country in the world, where the right to education for women and girls over 12 years of age is prohibited. Right to work, right to access to health, right to access to justice, freedom of association, freedom of expression so the concept of gender apartheid is not just a theoretical construct or a legal abstraction, it’s the reality of millions of girls and women today,” said Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Chair, UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls.—Tolonews
