Thursday, July 28, 2022

Taliban Claim That Afghanistan Is Now Safe For Hindus, Sikhs And Christians, But Is It Even Safe For Muslims?

The Taliban Had Urged Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan to Return to the Country Main Points: 1. 2. They claim that security issues have been solved and now Afghanistan is safe for minorities. 2. 4. Afghan Muslims taking refuge in Pakistan do not want to return. 3. 5. Turkey has deported unwilling Afghan refugees to Kabul. ---- By New Age Islam Staff Writer 28 July 2022 Sikh leaders thanked the Taliban for preventing the terror attack on Gurdwara in Kabul. ----- The Afghan Taliban have claimed that security issues have been resolved and the country is now stable and safe for the Hindus and Sikhs. They have therefore urged the Sikh and Hindu community to return to Afghanistan. This is a good sign that the Taliban have assured the minority communities of the country of their protection. On June 18 this year, the Taliban security guards had thwarted an ISIS attack on a Gurudwara in Kabul. But the bigger question is: Are the Afghan Muslims safe in Afghanistan and will the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Turkey return to Afghanistan? The answer is no. According to a news report 1.5 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan do not want to return to their homeland. There are 1.2 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan who migrated to Pakistan during the US occupation. Ironically, the migration of Afghan nationals to Pakistan did not stop after the Taliban government was established. About 2 50, 000 more Afghans have migrated to Pakistan since August last year when the Taliban captured power. This shows that the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan has meant no change for the better for the Afghan people. Apart from Pakistan, Iran hosts 7 lakh Afghan refugees. In Turkey, about 5 lakh Afghan refugees are living and the government of Turkey is deporting them without their consent. In January 2022, Turkey deported 28,000 Afghan refugees who did not have valid documents and Turkey considered them a security threat. In May 2022, Turkey deported another 1025 Afghan refugees to Kabul. In June 2022, 136 Afghan citizens wanted to take refuge in Turkey but they were sent back. All this shows that the situation in Afghanistan is not stable or normal and more and more Afghans are leaving Afghanistan and seeking refuge in Pakistan, Turkey and Iran. Therefore, the claim of the Taliban that all is hunky dory in Afghanistan is only an eyewash and an attempt to bully the world community. The appeal to the Sikh and the Hindu minority was made obviously keeping in mind the conference on Afghanistan held in Uzbekistan on 26 July in which many issues including the safety and security of ethnic and religious minorities, girls' education and liberty to women were supposed to be raised. The conference China, Russia, US, UK, Japan and other Asian countries participated. This was the reason the Taliban had a couple of days ago said that the girls' schools were only temporarily closed and as soon as the issue of uniform and syllabus is resolved the schools will be reopened. The truth is that the Taliban have not made any sensible change in their attitude towards the women and towards the media. Recently the Taliban ordered the female employees to recommend male members of their family for their replacement because they don't want allow women to work in government offices. Women journalists have already been fired and some of them have been compelled to open roadside eateries for a living. The order of accompanying a mahram, a male escort and of a full covering veil for women is another blow to the freedom and rights of women. The girls are not allowed to study beyond grade six and many college going girls are now languishing at homes depressed. The economic condition of Afghanistan is also at the worst level and millions of children are on the verge of starvation. Billions of dollars of Afghanistan are lying frozen in American and European banks due to the rigidity of the Taliban. It cannot pay salaries of the government employees on time. The US-Taliban talks on frozen 7 billion dollars has had a setback because the Taliban has not agreed to some terms for its release. The US insists that the Taliban should change some political appointments in Afghan Central Bank as the US has imposed sanctions on an official of the bank but the Taliban is not ready to remove him. Therefore, in spite of resolving issues of economic importance, the Taliban government is preoccupied with religious and women's issues. It seems that the Taliban have decided not to allow Afghan girls to study in schools, colleges and universities and is trying to buy time. Because of its rigid policies on veil, beard and dress code and oher restrictions on media and entertainment, the Afghan refugees do not want to return to Afghan as it holds no future for them. There is no employment, no personal freedom and no security in the country. Trigger-happy Taliban roam the streets and shoot anyone on slightest violation of their prescribed dress code or sharia laws. A girl was shot dead in Kabul last year for not wearing veil. This ISIS kind of governance and mode of dispensing justice reminds one of the tribal culture of pre-Islam era. Therefore, the rigid ideology that Taliban follows has proved to be a big hindrance in the political and economic development of the country. Media, women and children are the worst victims of this rigidity. The Taliban are in a dilemma because now they are in the government and have to honour many global democratic commitments and can not work in an isolated manner. They are accountable to the world community and sooner or later they will have to join the global mainstream to develop and progress as a nation. URL: https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/taliban-hindus-sikhs-christians-muslims/d/127587 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism

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