Women To Cover Up, Even With a Blanket, or They Will Lose Their Jobs: Taliban

A strict interpretation of Islam under the Taliban meant surveilling people's clothing, habits, and actions.

Taliban warns women to cover up at jobs, even with a blanket, or they will be fired. Image used for representative purposes.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Taliban's religious police, on Tuesday, 22 February, warned women working in Afghan government departments to cover themselves up, even with a blanket, otherwise, they might lose their jobs.

Ever since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August last year, most women have been prohibited from working in the government. Although, the new rulers stated that the women will be allowed to return to their jobs once certain conditions are fulfilled, like setting up of segregated offices, the situation has worsened for Afghan women.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice released a statement that said women should not go to work at their jobs unless they properly covered themselves, and could be fired if they did not follow the guidelines.

Most women in the country have always covered their heads in public as per their tradition, thus, the reason behind aforementioned statement was unclear.

The ministry had earned notoriety, when Taliban had first established regime between the years 1996 and 2001, for policing the leader's austere interpretation of Islam.

"They can follow the hijab the way they want," ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadeq Akif Muhajir told AFP when they asked him for clarity.

The women can wear "any other sort of hijab, it is up to them, but they must (cover up) properly... even wear a blanket", he added.

A strict interpretation of Islam in the Taliban's previous rule inferred to surveilling people's clothing, habits and actions.

Western clothing was disallowed and men were ordered not to shave. Taliban also banned hairdressers, TVs, and so on.

Previously, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, one of the founders of the radical group, had said that they would once again carry out punishments such as executions and amputation of hands, but maybe not in public.

(With inputs from Agence France-Presse)