Ban on Afghan girls singing dropped after activist outrage
Afghanistan s government distanced itself from a recent plan to ban girls from singing in public after women s rights activists slammed education officials for promoting a Taliban-like policy. By Nasim Saber
The Afghan Ministry of Education has annulled a ban on public singing performances by girls over the age of twelve, which was announced on 10 March in Kabul. The capital s local education authority had issued the order without prior consultation with the ministry, it said.
Following criticism at home and abroad and an Afghan campaign on social media, the ministry issued a statement saying girls should retain the same rights as boys in the future. The leadership of the Ministry of Education is committed to the right to education and grants the free choice of girls and boys to participate in cultural, artistic and sporting activities, the statement reads. It added: The instruction issued by the Kabul Education Auth
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Women in Afghanistan fear for the future
#IAmMySong
The Education Ministry s attempt to distance itself from the controversy comes after women s rights activists launched a social media campaign to denounce fundamentalism in Afghanistan.
Under the hashtag #IAmMySong, Afghan women and social rights activists shared video clips of girls singing hymns and songs, along with musical performances by Afghan women. The main reason for our protest is that songs and hymns are the voice of women. To silence the voice of women is to eradicate women from the public sphere. This directive is exactly like those rules that the Taliban issued during their supremacy, Afghan women s rights activist Vida Saghari told DW.
Pakistan: Eleven miners killed in sectarian attack buried following week of protests
Eleven coal miners from Pakistan’s Shiite Hazara minority were brutally killed in a sectarian attack Sunday, January 3.
The latest atrocity against this oppressed minority triggered protests in Quetta and Karachi, while the families of the miners refused to bury their dead for an entire week. They demanded that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan meet with them and end Islamabad’s indifference towards widespread violence against the Hazara.
In a demonstration of pent-up frustration and anger, the Hazara protesters in Quetta kept the miners’ coffins on a highway despite the Muslim tradition of burial within 24 hours. Following week-long continuous protests amid bitterly cold temperatures, the miners’ funerals were held on Saturday after Prime Minister Imran Khan agreed to meet the protesters the same day.