Female University Student, Wearing Colored Veil, Barred From Taking Exam in Afghanistan

Monday, 08/22/2022

Taliban officials from the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice barred a female student from participating in the university exam in Kabul.

In a social media post, the student alleged that due to the colour of her scarf, she was not allowed to take her tests.

According to her, "We live in a country where the colour of a girl's veil is more important than her fate and future."

However, there is a difference which has emerged between the behavior of the moral police officials and the stance of the Taliban’s Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue.

Mohammad Sadiq Akef, the spokesman of the Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue said, "A veil or a burqa is a hijab. It does not matter whether the color of the hijab is black or some other colour.”

In a press conference in Kabul, he said on Monday that the hijab should not be tight, narrow, thin, ornate, and fragrant.

At the same time, officials of the Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue on Monday presented a one-year report describing the ministry's functions.

At the press conference, Mawlawi Abdur Rahman Munir, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue said that over a thousand complaints have been filed in the ministry in the past year.

Munir did not give details about these complaints, but before this, the Taliban had established strict rules and asked the people to inform this ministry if they see any wrongdoing in the society.

Human rights organisations say that the Taliban's Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue has been practicing gender apartheid against Afghan women in the past year.

Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the ministry has imposed extensive restrictions on women's right to education, work, and freedom of movement and social activities.

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