Kabul: The Taliban's religious police threatened to shoot female NGO workers in Afghanistan's northwestern province if they did not wear a full burqa, two staff members said on Friday.
The rights of Afghans - especially women and girls - have been sharply curtailed since the Taliban returned to power after toppling the US-backed government in August. Women are being squeezed out of public life and largely barred from government jobs, while most secondary schools for girls are closed.
Two international NGO workers in rural Badghis province said the local branch of the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention held a meeting with aid groups on Sunday.
"They told us that if female employees come into the office without wearing a burqa, they will shoot them," said one, who did not wish to be named for security reasons. She said women should also go to work with a male guardian.
Another NGO source also confirmed the warnings. "They also said that they will come to every office without any prior intimation to check whether the rules are being followed," he said. A notice to NGOs did not mention the threat of shooting, but ordered the women to be covered up. Women in deeply conservative Afghanistan usually cover their hair with scarves, while the burqa – mandatory under the Taliban's first regime from 1996 to 2001 – is still widely worn, especially outside the capital, Kabul.
Desperate for international recognition to unlock frozen assets, the Taliban have largely avoided issuing national policies that provoke outrage abroad. However, provincial authorities have issued various guidelines and orders based on local interpretations of Islamic law and Afghan custom.
The Taliban demonstrated in the capital on Friday with about 300 people chanting "we want Sharia law". Holding posters of women covered in full, the crowd lashed out at women's rights activists who are accusing them of being "mercenaries" on the streets.
Earlier this month, posters were put up in cafes and shops in Kabul, ordering Afghan women to be covered with the image of a burqa. Afghan women are banned from appearing in television dramas and must be accompanied by a male guardian when traveling between towns and cities.
Small and scattered protests have erupted demanding women's rights, which improved little during the last 20 years of the US-backed government in Afghanistan. However, several activists said they went into hiding in the capital this week after several raids were conducted, following which three women were arrested.