8am (translated by RAWA), September 24, 2022

Taliban strictness in Bamyan; the Religious Police speak to female students with a whip in hand

Samaneh adds that after the insulting treatment and rude words of this Taliban's Religious Police, the female student cried and returned to her home

Female students in Bamyan are complaining about the Taliban's strictness in enforcing good and forbidding evil. Insulting, humiliating, whipping and inspecting clothes under the pretext of not observing hijab are some of the things these students face. Female students complain about the harsh treatment of Taliban's Religious Police and describe the way they are examined as "inhumane"; but women's rights activists believe that Taliban officials want to discourage girls from continuing their education by increasing strictness.

Ayesha (pseudonym), one of the students of Bamyan University, speaking to 8 Subh Newspaper, says that during the last week, at least six female students were whipped by Taliban's Religious Police in separate incidents. According to her, these girls were first insulted by the Taliban's Religious Police in the Dehn-e-Zargaran area and in front of the entrance gate of a private educational center in the center of Bamyan, and then they were whipped.

Samaneh (pseudonym), a student of Bamyan University, explains to 8 Subh Newspaper that Taliban officials started the process of checking the clothes and hijab of female students on Sunday last week. According to Samaneh, students who are wearing colored clothes, jeans and sport shoes were not allowed to enter the university by the Taliban's Religious Police.

Samaneh states: "On Tuesday, at the entrance gate of the university, the Taliban Religious Police stopped a number of female students and asked them to raise their big scarves to check what kind of outfit they were wearing under. When a student raised her big scarf, a Religious Police personale told her, with an insulting look, why she was wearing tight clothes that makes her body visible?"

Samaneh adds that after the insulting treatment and rude words of this Taliban's Religious Police, the female student cried and returned to her home.

Also, in the video clip, sent to the 8 Subh Newspaper by a reader, can be seen that Taliban's Religious Police, standing at the entrance gate of Bamyan University, check the hijab and the clothing of the female students and don't allow the girls who did not observe the hijab based on standards of Taliban.

According to reports, last week a female student fainted while her hijab being checked by Taliban. Her classmates took her to the hospital.

The female students in Bamyan point out that the behavior of the Taliban's Religious Police against the girls of this province is against human dignity. They want the Taliban to respect women's privacy.

On the other hand, a number of women's rights activists in Bamyan call the Taliban's Religious Police against female students in this province as insulting.

Rabia (pseudonym), a women's rights activist, told 8 Subh Newspaper that in the past few days, a large number of female students at Bamyan University, even though they were wearing proper hijab, were insulted by the Taliban's Religious Police and arrested just for wearing jeans and a scarf. They have been subjected to insulting behavior.

This women's rights activist adds that the local officials of the Taliban, especially the employees of the Department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Bamyan, are trying to dissuade girls and women from universities and make them stay at home with their inhumane and insulting behaviors. Rabia points out: "The Taliban have turned Bamyan University into a place of torture for female students, and no female student feels safe in this university. Everyone is worried and suffering from mental problems."

She asks the international community to help out Afghan women and not let the Taliban completely remove women from society.

The Taliban's strict policies against female students in Bamyan University have intensified after they appointed Salim Faizi as the new chancellor of Bamyan University. Last week, he issued a new order, asking Bamyan University female students to come to the university, fully covered with the clothes and their faces should be covered as well.

About a month ago, the Taliban's Religious Police in Bamyan harassed the women and girls of this province by setting up checkpoints on the public roads of Bamyan city and checking the clothing of women and asking for their Mahram or make escort.

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