The founding father of a venture that campaigned for ladies’ schooling in Afghanistan has been detained by Taliban authorities in Kabul, his brother and the United Nations mentioned Tuesday.
The Taliban authorities final 12 months barred girls from attending secondary faculty, making Afghanistan the one nation on the planet the place there’s a ban on schooling.
“Matiullah Wesa, head of PenPath and advocate for ladies’ schooling, was arrested in Kabul Monday,” the UN mission in Afghanistan tweeted.
Wesa’s brother confirmed his arrest, saying he was picked up exterior a mosque after prayers on Monday night.
“Matiullah had completed his prayers and got here out of the mosque when he was stopped by some males in two autos,” Samiullah Wesa informed AFP. “When Matiullah requested for his or her id playing cards, they beat him and forcefully took him away.”
The organisation Matiullah based — which campaigns for faculties and distributes books in rural areas — has lengthy devoted itself to speaking the significance of ladies’ schooling to village elders.
For the reason that ban on secondary faculties for ladies, Wesa has continued visiting distant areas to drum up help from locals.
“We’re counting hours, minutes and seconds for the opening of ladies’ faculties.
The injury that closure of colleges causes is irreversible and plain,” he tweeted final week as the brand new faculty 12 months began in Afghanistan.
“We held conferences with locals and we’ll proceed our protest if the colleges stay closed.”
The Taliban have imposed an austere interpretation of Islam since storming back to power in August 2021 after the withdrawal of US and NATO forces that backed the earlier governments.
Taliban leaders — who’ve additionally banned women from college — have repeatedly claimed they are going to reopen faculties for ladies as soon as sure circumstances have been met.
They are saying they lack the funds and time to transform the syllabus alongside Islamic traces.
Taliban authorities made comparable assurances throughout their first stint in energy — from 1996 to 2001 — however women’ faculties by no means opened in 5 years.
The order in opposition to women’ schooling is believed to have been made by Afghanistan’s supreme chief Hibatullah Akhundzada and his ultra-conservative aides, who’re deeply sceptical of recent schooling — particularly for girls.
In addition to sparking worldwide outrage, it has stirred criticism from inside the motion, with some senior officers within the Kabul authorities in addition to many rank-and-file members in opposition to the choice.
In deeply conservative and patriarchal Afghanistan, attitudes to women’ schooling have been slowly altering in rural areas, the place the benefits are being recognised.
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