Taliban leader orders girls to wear all-covering burqa in public: Decree

A lady sits with girls carrying burqas exterior a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan October 5, 2021. (File photograph: Reuters)

Published: 07 Might ,2022: 11:58 AM GST Up to date: 07 May ,2022: 12:53 PM GST

Afghanistan’s supreme chief and Taliban chief on Saturday ordered the country’s girls to wear the all-covering burqa in public - one of the harshest controls imposed on girls’s lives since the Taliban seized power.

“They should put on a chadori (head-to-toe burqa) as it is traditional and respectful,” said a decree issued by Hibatullah Akhundzada that was released by Taliban authorities at a function in Kabul.

“Those ladies who will not be too previous or young should cowl their face, except the eyes, as per sharia directives, to be able to keep away from provocation when meeting men who should not mahram (adult shut male kin),” the decree said.

It added that if women had no vital work outside it was “higher they stay at residence.”

During their first regime between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban imposed related restrictions on women.