KABUL (SW) – Security officials of the Islamic Emirate prevented a group of women from staging a protest demonstration against curbs on their rights and freedoms.
The protest, which was to take place at the Haji Yaqub intersection in Kabul’s Shahr-e No district, was blocked by Islamic Emirate forces. A number of women participants say they have been prevented from protesting by threats and intimidation and have not been allowed to read out the resolution.
An eye-witness told Salam Watandar that those who took pictures and videos of the protest were also violently beaten by the forces of the Islamic Emirate. Journalists have also reportedly not been allowed to cover the protest.
Roman Karimi, a Salam Watandar reporter, also went to cover the protest, but he and one of Salam Watandar’s drivers are still missing and there is no news of them.
The protesting women said in their resolution that after the Islamic Emirate took control of Afghanistan, poverty and unemployment had become widespread among the Afghan people and many citizens had been unable to make ends meet.
The resolution stated that the officials of the Islamic Emirate instead of thinking about solving the problems of the people and finding a solution to poverty and unemployment, they use all their power to restrict women and interfere in the most private affairs of citizens.
The protesters have called for increased pressure on the Islamic Emirate so that their government can be held accountable to the people and find a way to free the people from poverty and unemployment. They added that foreign aid agencies and donor countries do not properly monitor the distribution of aid, and that most aid is distributed under the guidance of Islamic Emirate officials, and that real beneficiaries are barred from receiving such aid.
The protesting women also called for the reopening of schools to girls above the sixth grade as soon as possible, and called on the people not to give in and remain silent in the face of “suffocating conditions” and to defend their fundamental rights and freedoms under any circumstances.
ENDS
