On Thursday, the Taliban extended their support to the Muslim girls wearing hijab in Karnataka and praised them for standing up for the “Islamic values” amid the Karnataka hijab row.
“The struggle of Indian Muslim girls for hijab shows that hijab is not an Arab, Iranian, Egyptian or Pakistani culture, but an Islamic value for which Muslim girls around the world sacrifice in various ways and defend their religious value”, tweeted Inamullah Samangani, the Deputy Spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. We are using the term ‘spokesman’ rather than the usual ‘spokesperson’ because there are no women officials under the Taliban.
This is a day after hijab donning Muslim girl students in Karnataka declared that they consider hijab as their first priority and education as secondary. Samangani added that it was pleasing to see Muslim women stand for their religious values and make sacrifices to defend it in various ways, especially in the ‘secular world’.
Samangani had shared the image of the black burqa-clad girl in Karnataka who had raised Allahu Akbar slogans. Her photo had gone viral on social media.
He also sharply retorted to a response by one Pakistani named Saleem Javed, who was insisting that the Muslim girls in Karnataka are protesting for ‘secularism’. Samanganin told Javed that he is a ‘fake secularist’ and by claiming that the Hijab girls support ‘secularism’ he is displaying ‘enmity with Islam’.
Inamullah Samangani’s praise for the burqa girls was supported by many other senior Taliban officials like Suhail Shaheen, IEA’s official spokesman at the Qatar office. He amplified the Taliban’s support to the Muslim girls demanding to wear hijab in violation of their college dress code.
Under Taliban rule, its burqa or jail/death for women
It is pertinent to note that in August last year, the Taliban in Afghanistan had ruled its first indication after coming to power that they would make hijab compulsory for women in Afghanistan if not burqa. Suppressing the rights of women, it had also ordered the televisions to stop airing shows featuring women artists and had reiterated that women scribes must cover up themselves.
According to reports, several Afghan women had staged protests against the Taliban’s hijab rule by wearing colourful outfits. They stood against the group’s interpretation of Sharia law. However, Taliban gunmen raided the homes of women’s rights activists in Kabul and arrested them, for demanding basic rights.
It is indeed interesting to see that the so-called ‘left-liberals’ and the Taliban want the same thing, women covered up.
Karnataka: Muslim girls demand exemption from uniform dress code, want to wear hijab to class
The hijab controversy in India erupted last month when a government college in Karnataka denied entry to eight women wearing hijab and ruled that students will have to follow the uniform dress codes and that hijabs won’t be allowed inside the campus. The Muslim women then filed a petition in High Court seeking permission to attend classes with hijab, stating that it is their ‘fundamental right’ granted under Article 14 and 25 of the Indian Constitution and ‘integral practice of Islam’.
The college authorities have been trying for weeks to convince the girls to follow the dress code and attend classes. But the girls have been adamant to wear hijabs inside the classroom, demanding that the college must allow them exemption from the dress code. The college has stated that they have over 100 Muslim students but there are only 8 particular girls, who never donned hijab earlier, who now suddenly want to wear hijabs inside the classroom.
Hindu students have been objecting to the hijab demand and have stated that if the college allows hijabs, they will start wearing saffron shawls inside classrooms too.
While the Court is yet to rule it’s judgement, the ‘left-liberals’ and the Islamic fundamentalists are supporting and instigating the Muslim girls to violate the established rules on uniform dress code.
