• "RAWA will never achieve its goals"
• "We will never grant freedom to women"
• "The women participating in the RAWA demonstration have out-stepped the boundaries of Islam."

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Excerpts from Wahdat daily, published in Peshawar (April 30,1998):

Peshawar (Wahdat Reporter):

"The blackest day in the history of Afghanistan was the day on which women were granted freedom." This was stated by the deputy Chief Justice of Afghanistan Supreme Court Maulawi Rafiullah Mo'azen in a statement denouncing the demonstration brought out in Peshawar by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). "The heathen world and the multitude of infidels are out to obliterate Islam sooner or later in the name of women's freedom and education, and they are spreading false allegations against the Islamic Emirate [Taliban dispensation]. Maulawi Mo'azen added, "The women's organisation called RAWA cannot represent Afghan women. This group is a flunkey of the infidels and wants to corrupt Islamic society."

The Salafi Youth Movement has also deplored the RAWA demonstration. "The Taliban and the Mujahedin should set aside their differences and consider the interests of the Islamic world, in particular of the Afghan people, and forestall anti-Islamic movements" they stated. An Afghan businessman Abdul Sammi Mohammadi also denounced the RAWA demonstration and remarked that the demonstration was an affront to the traditions of Afghan women. The cultural in-charge of the Islamic Youth Movement Mohammad Malyar said that the demonstration organised by RAWA was a demonstration against Islam. He added that it is shameful that an ungodly communist organisation should find the audacity to stage a demonstration in support of its nefarious aims in an Islamic country and in front of thousands of Muslim males.

Likewise, members of the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan political organisation in a joint statement took strong exception to the demonstration staged in Peshawar by RAWA and stated that this association [RAWA] is a communist organisation who are raising slogans against Islam, the Jihadis [Mujahedin] and the Taliban on cue from their routed fellow-communists. The statement added that it is a matter of high regret and consternation that nowadays sickly inconsequential communists and their women are staging demonstrations against Islam in the face of potent Muslims. The statement further added that Muslims need to have himat and ghairat [be conjured to action for the sake of wounded pride] and should forestall any such actions in the future.

The Afghan Islamic Students' Organisation also expressed outrage at the demonstration staged by RAWA and have labelled the demonstration as an act of defiance and communist propaganda against Muslims. The Islamic students' organisation called on the Afghan people not to endure such irreligious elements and to counter their provocations with teeth-smashing measures.

The Ahl-i-Hadith Youth Association also condemned the RAWA demonstration in strongest terms and asserted that RAWA members are none other than former communists and their women. "How deplorable that nowadays Afghan women resort to irreligious actions in the presence of strangers and openly demonstrate communist behaviour!" they lamented. "Muslims and faithful Muslim youth in particular must raise their voices in chorus against RAWA and prevent such people from taking even a step against Muslims", they stated.

Wahdat daily, April 29,1998

In relation to the demonstration staged in Peshawar yesterday against Jihadi groups and the Taliban by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), a number of Afghans have phoned or written to the Wahdat Daily office in condemnation of the action and of the RAWA organisation.

The principal of the Peshawar Jamia Emdad-al-Uloom religious seminary, Mohammad Zahir Seddiq, accused RAWA of being an organisation of Jewish agents because their activities are against the Islamic Emirate [of Afghanistan]. Mohammad Zahir Seddiq deplored the response of the Pakistani police towards the taliban's [religious students] reaction to the RAWA demonstration….

Another talib [religious student] named Mullah Habibullah Habibi told the Wahdat reporter at the time the [RAWA] demonstration was underway "These women are not Afghans but a black spot [of shame] on the honour of Afghan women." He added, "It is most regrettable that in an Islamic society like Pakistan the right to demonstrate is being given to such an un-Islamic group." Another talib, Fazal-rabbi Hayatzadah, asserted indignantly "The taliban will never grant freedom to Afghan women."…. A talib by the name of Obaidullah Ezzam said, "Islam does not allow women to demonstrate and shout slogans in the bazaars." The Jamia Emdad-al-Uloom religious seminary students voiced their determination to demonstrate in front of the American Consulate [in Peshawar] to protest the injuries inflicted on taliban.

Wahdat daily, May 5, 1998

"The RAWA demonstration was, on the basis of Islamic Sharia law, an unlawful action against the luminous Islamic religion. Muslims should roll up their sleeves to prevent such hen-brained women from perpetrating such actions and staging demonstrations against Islam."

Wahdat daily, April 30,1998

Peshawar, P.R.

Qari Abdul Rahim Al-Farooqi has said in a press statement that "the demand for freedom and women's rights put forward in the demonstration staged by the women's organisation RAWA is totally illegitimate. The rights and protection accorded to women by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is unmatched in any country of the world." The statement added that all such outrages [RAWA demonstration, etc.] are stage-managed by the United States and Jewish circles. "The women who participated in the demonstration have out-stepped the boundaries of Islam," he said, and added, "If such demonstrations are brought out once again then these women will bear the responsibility for the consequences." He also asked that those taliban who have been arrested by the police [for their assault on the RAWA procession] should be freed immediately.