Taliban leader backs girls' right to education but wants them to only learn Sharia lessons

A senior Taliban leer has vocated for women’s right to education, saying that it is right based on Islamic culture and values. Sher Mohamm Abbas Shanikzai, on Sunday, said that it was responsibility of government to provide a safe education to females. His remarks came days after Sunni Islamist government issued a diktat barring girls from attending school after sixth gre.

“Women can’t even ask for ir inheritance. y are deprived of right to education. Where will women learn Shariah’s lessons? Women make up half of Afghanistan’s population,” he said at an event marking death anniversary of former leer Mullah Akhtar Mohamm Mansour. Shanikzai backed his stance by asserting that women should also be provided with all ir rights based on Islamic culture and values.

At event, he also slammed small budget for development in economic sectors and also said that due to economic challenges, people were forced to leave country. “We don’t have a chair in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), we don’t have a chair in United Nations and we don’t have a political office in Europe,” he said. Prices of all commodities, including essentials, have skyrocketed in recent weeks. 

Taliban curtails female rights 

Taliban h previously issued an official decree requiring female staff members of UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to wear hijab in ir offices, as well as limiting Afghan women's access to make-up and reproductive rights, with a ban on education for girls in gres 6 and above. Hundreds of Afghan women are protesting Taliban leer's new ban on hijab-wearing women.  Taliban has threatened  women that if y don't obey order, ir parents would be punished and imprisoned, according to media reports.

During ir previous regime, from 1996 to 2001,  Islamist group forbe women from getting any kind of education and blatantly denied ir right to work. y also stopped women from travelling outside ir homes without a male relative accompanying m. Some of more gruesome acts by Taliban include public executions and floggings.

(With inputs from AP)