Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai said on Sunday that the Taliban consider women to be “not human beings” and have made a system of “gender apartheid” that protects its crimes with cultural and religious justifications.
Since regaining control in 2021, the Taliban government has enforced a rigid interpretation of Islamic law across the country, which the U.N. has termed ‘gender apartheid,’ setting up restrictions for women and girls regarding secondary education and beyond, various government jobs, and several spheres of public life.
Yousafzai addressed a summit on girls’ education in Muslim countries in Islamabad, during which she stated: ” It is also what I call gender apartheid.” He acknowledged how the Taliban punish women and girls who violate their laws with beatings, detention, and sometimes torture.
Also Read: Devastating Wildfires in Los Angeles: Death Toll Rises
“The Taliban does not see women as human beings,” said Yousafzai. “They cover their crimes under the name of culture and religion.”
The two-day conference supported by the Muslim World League was organized for ministers and education officials from Muslim-majority countries. However, as per Pakistan Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, the delegates from the Taliban government of Afghanistan did not attend, despite being invited.
No policies of the Afghan government are Islamic and are, in fact, against the principles of their faith, said Malala. She urged Muslim leaders not to “legitimize” the Taliban government and oppose their stipulations regarding women’s and girls’ education.
“As Muslim leaders now, the need of the hour is to raise your voice, use your power. You can show true leadership. You can show true Islam.” She emphasized the need to address this crisis, where millions of girls are denied access to education and which is locked away in the economic impacts of hundreds of billions of dollars in lost growth. The absence of addressing this crisis will mean that fundamental Islamic values of seeking knowledge have not been understood.
In Afghanistan, a whole generation of girls is being robbed of their future.” “The Taliban have ripped from every Afghan girl the right to learn. They want to take all women and girls out of every aspect of public life, and society they’ll take those people and erase them all from the face of the earth.
Also Read: Bunker Demolition Begins in Lower Kurram Amid Peace Efforts
Yousafzai was shot in the leg by the Pakistani Taliban at 15 years old- she would become a worldwide advocate of rights for girls and women’s education. Such activism earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
Even with the concern that other countries might have regarding the way to engage with the rulers of Kabul, some argue that they should diplomatically isolate them for failing to reverse seen policies while others prefer that they engage with them in the hope that changes might happen. No nation has formally recognized the authorities of the Taliban, but several possible governments have already begun discussions on trade and security issues with them.