Hazara National Congress Statement Concerning the Taliban’s Ban On Women Attending Universities and Workingin Non-Governmental Organisations
The Hazara National Congress (hereafter, the Congress) strongly condemns the Taliban’s ban on higher education for women, as a sequence to their already imposed ban on girls’ secondary education, and their latest decision to stop women from working in non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
These decisions, under the pretext of “non-observance of the hijab (headscarf) and sharia principles by female students and employees working for the NGOs”, are contrary to the religious and moral values of Islam, the Charter of Human Rights, and the culture and moral principles of the absolute majority of the people of Afghanistan.
Once again, the Taliban have proved that they have not changed. As in their first five years in the second half of the 1990s, the Taliban show that they have no desire for international relations, progress, education, and civilization. By banning women from education and working in non-governmental organizations, they are actually demanding the withdrawal of all international NGOs and institutions from the country.
The Taliban want an Afghanistan without international observers and listening points – an absolute prison, especially for women.
The Congress encourages and supports a pluralistic approach – based on democratic values, equal citizenship rights, social justice, meritocracy, and the rule of law – in all affairs of the country. The Congress emphasizes that unless ALL communities and groups are involved in the country’s political affairs and decision-making processes, no process and decision will ever be able to solve the current crises. On the contrary, the continuation of the current process will plunge the country further into the quagmire of crises and will cause more suffering to the people.
What the Taliban perform today is the result of a series of misconceptions and miscalculations that happened during the peace negotiations. The peace discourse in Afghanistan needs a new plan and structure. Conventional peace talks to date have been initiated and conducted behind closed doors, usually away from the public eye. Therefore, the people of Afghanistan in general, and the Hazara people in particular, had the least influence and role in shaping the peace process. The current situation in Afghanistan shows that this approach has not been effective. On the contrary, it has caused the collapse of the achievements of the past 20 years, especially the political, educational, and security systems. Now, it is time to review the previous approach to peace building and national reconciliation on the one hand and present a new plan for political discourse to end the cycle of violence and achieve lasting peace on
the other.
Congress proposes a new plan for sustainable peace in Afghanistan. In this plan, Congress places the peace discourse in the wider social and cultural context. By this approach, on the one hand, Congress presents a new plan for political discourse and attaining lasting peace, a plan that is appropriate and relevant to the culture, geography and common history of the ethnic and religious groups in the country.
On the other hand, Congress believes that in this way, not only can transparency be created in the peace discourse, but the peace process can be pulled out from behind the closed gates and implemented in partnership with the real representatives of the nation. To end the ongoing violence and achieve lasting peace, the Hazara National Congress calls on all national and international forces to support this message to launch a new peace process and political discourse.
Hazara National Congress
