Guess what? In a new order, the Directorate of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has asked the inspectors of this directorate to patrol the city for three days in the coming week to prevent women from not wearing hijab and to take a list of those who do not pray.
Go deeper:
- Nasrullah Hotak, the spokesman of the directorate, said that this decision was taken during a meeting in which the head of the Directorate of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and several inspectors were present.
- After this, the directorate called on their officials in Balkh province to expand their monitoring activities.
- Hotak said that the aim of expanding the activities of those assigned to the cause is to prevent untoward incidents and invite people to pray.
- The statement added that the team assigned will also hold meetings with the owners of wedding halls to prevent music from being played at weddings.
- The Taliban have already warned people in some provinces, including Balkh, via loudspeaker to leave their jobs during prayers and go to the mosque.
- In recent weeks, the Taliban in Khost city have been forcing shopkeepers to close their shops during prayers and go to the mosque to pray.
Zoom out: What is important to note is that Afghanistan is again falling under the trap of religious monitoring with the Taliban insisting on implementing their version of “Sharia law” in the country. The ministry heralding this change is the Ministry of promotion of virtue and prevention of vice. Just days after retaking power in August 2021, the Taliban reinstated the ministry as a public morality watchdog tasked with enforcing the Taliban’s version of Islamic law.
- The ministry has since also been central to the systematic chipping away of women’s rights in the country. Women have been banned from entering all parks, gyms, and restaurants. They have been asked to cover up their faces on television too. Even travel was forbidden and it was announced that women would require a male escort to travel long distances within the country.
- Men face new regulations, too, as the Taliban’s religious police have instructed them to grow beards, avoid shaving, and forced them to compulsorily pray. Even, listening to music has been forbidden as can be seen in the latest order issued in Balkh.
- In the 1990s, the feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was responsible for enforcing the Taliban’s morality laws, including its strict dress code and gender segregation in society. The ministry’s dreaded police were notorious for publicly beating offenders, including women.
- We can see the same happening again with its latest order in Balkh.
