Taliban leader orders girls to wear all-covering burqa in public: Decree

A woman sits with women carrying burqas exterior a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan October 5, 2021. (File picture: Reuters)

Revealed: 07 Might ,2022: 11:58 AM GST Up to date: 07 May ,2022: 12:53 PM GST

Afghanistan’s supreme leader and Taliban chief on Saturday ordered the country’s girls to put on the all-covering burqa in public - one of many harshest controls imposed on girls’s lives because the Taliban seized power.

“They need to wear a chadori (head-to-toe burqa) as it's traditional and respectful,” said a decree issued by Hibatullah Akhundzada that was launched by Taliban authorities at a function in Kabul.

“Those women who are usually not too previous or young should cover their face, besides the eyes, as per sharia directives, to be able to avoid provocation when meeting males who are not mahram (adult close male kin),” the decree said.

It added that if women had no important work outdoors it was “better they stay at house.”

Throughout their first regime between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban imposed similar restrictions on ladies.