Using loudspeakers of mosques in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital city of the northern Balkh province, the Taliban have once again stressed the observance of hijab by women. The women should not go out without hijab, the group’s morality police have announced.
Muhtasibs – morality police – of the Taliban’s Vice and Virtue directorate also warn through the loudspeakers of the mosques that caretakers of those women who go out without hijab will be arrested and jailed, said a local source in the 7th district of Mazar-e-Sharif to Kabul Now.
“Caretaker of each woman who gets out without having the Islamic hijab – a head-to-toe chador covering the face – will be dealt with seriously,” the Taliban’s morality police is heard as warning in an audio recording sent to Kabul Now.
In another part of the audio recording, the Taliban morality police call on shopkeepers in Mazar-e-Sharif not to deal with the “hijabless” women.
The group also asks the shopkeepers to close their businesses at the time of the call for prayers and do their prayers at the mosques.
The group’s morality police have also said that they will make a list of those people who hesitate to show up at mosques for mass prayer.
According to the Taliban’s directorate of Vice and Virtue in Balkh, this message is supposed to be publicized through the loudspeakers of the mosques in all districts of Mazar-e-Sharif.
The Taliban have effectively imposed severe restrictions and their favorite dress code for women, defining it as Islamic hijab, since their return to power.
