Taliban Issues New Decree; Orders Female TV Presenters To Cover Faces: Report

Ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, a new decree is issued for women which imposes further restrictions on them. The New Taliban Decree ordered women television presenters to mandatorily cover themselves when they are on-air.

Issued on May 19, Thursday, the Taliban, in their decree, directed all the women television presenters working with any channel to cover their faces while presenting programs. The Taliban had warned that if the women disobeyed the order, their parents would be punished and imprisoned, reports stated.

The Ministries of Vice & Virtue and Information & Culture called it the final verdict and told that all the media outlets in the country have been issued the order, stated TOLOnews, an Afghan media outlet, in their tweet.

According to reports, the Taliban in its earlier official order directed the female staff members of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to wear hijab at offices and has also curtailed Afghan women from wearing make-up. Limiting their agency on their reproductive rights, and banning of education of girls from classes 6 and above are some of the other instances of women's rights being curtailed.

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The Taliban's decree dated May 7 imposed further restrictions on Afghan women which stated that it's “required for all respectable Afghan women to wear a hijab”, or headscarf. The ministry in their statement also advised women to opt for chadori (the blue-coloured Afghan burqa or full-body veil). This was the first decree of the regime where criminal punishment was assigned for violation of the dress code for women and their mahram .

Many Afghan women are protesting against the Taliban leader's new order on women wearing the hijab, states reports. The UNAMA had also expressed concerns regarding the announcement and said that this decision contradicts numerous assurances regarding respect for and protection of all Afghans' human rights, including those of women and girls.

The reports come hours after the Acting Interior Minister of Afghanistan and the Co-deputy leader of Taliban, Sirajuddin Haqqani's first television interview with Christiane Amanpour of the CNN in Kabul. The Minister said that there will be good news soon and asked the protesting women to stay at home.

When he was asked about the education of girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, he said that girls are allowed to go to school until grade six and that they are working on a mechanism to enable others to attend school as well. A promise the regime has made time and again and yet it remains unfulfilled.