At a press conference in Kabul, a spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice read a statement from the group’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, saying that if a woman did not cover her face outside the home, her father or closest male relative would be summoned and eventually incarcerated or fired from government jobs.
The mandate is adopted “in order to avoid provocation when meeting men who are not Mahram”, according to the statement.
This statement details the procedures taken by Ministry authorities to supervise the process of mandatory hijab. The initial stage in this procedure is to locate the residences of unveiled ladies and to counsel and warn the women’s parents.
The woman’s father or guardian is summoned to the relevant department in the second stage, and in the following steps, a case is lodged against the woman’s father or parents, and the person’s trial begins.
The all-encompassing blue burqa, Chadari, which became a global symbol of the Taliban’s previous extremist rule from 1996 to 2001, was proposed as a suitable covering, according to the statement.
The statement also notes that in case if there is no important work outside, women “better stay at home”.
This measure, according to social media users, is an aggravation of escalating restrictions on women in public, and has sparked outrage from the international world as well as many Afghans.
