Taliban’s worrying new diktat for those who criticise ‘Islamic Emirate’
The Taliban will punish those to criticise the scholars and public servants of ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’ without any authenticity, be it with gesture, word or anything else, reported news agency ANI citing Voice of America (VOA).
Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid has reportedly published new set of instructions attributed to their leader, Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada, calling their implementation “Sharia responsibility” of the people and the media.
The people of Afghanistan have been ordered to stop unnecessary accusations against the government officials and avoid criticism that are “away from reality”, without specifying it. The Sunni Pashtun group has long been accused of gross human rights violations and often faces criticism for its stance on girls’ education and women’s rights.
Several reports from human rights organisations and media suggest that the Taliban have “arrested, imprisoned and tortured some people who criticised them on social media”. Under the new instructions from Akhundzada, such actions are deemed as “negative propaganda” that “unconsciously helps the enemies”, reported VOA.
If any person “touches any soldier, or pulls his clothes, or say bad things to him” will be considered as a punishable act, according to the new directives as per VOA.
A self-identified “National Resistance Front” is fighting the Taliban government in Afghanistan and has repeatedly accused the Islamist fundamentalists of “arresting, killing and injuring civilians”. According to a UN report released earlier this week, 18 extrajudicial killings, 54 instances of torture and ill-treatment and 113 instances of arbitrary arrest and detention and 23 cases of incommunicado detention of individuals affiliated with the National Resistance Front have been recorded.
The new directives were published weeks after a Mullah from Herat, Mujibur Rahman Ansari, asked the participants at the “Great Meeting of Scholars” in Kabul to issue a fatwa that calls for beheading of the chiefs of the opponents of the Taliban government, reported VOA.
Baitullah Hamidi, professor of journalism faculty of Kabul University, wrote on his Facebook page that this situation will “make the oppression and violence in the country stronger and more frightening.”
He also wrote that “nobody is free from criticism in the face of the world.” No emir or any other human being is so sacred that he should not be criticized…. This is the final nail in the coffin of freedom of speech.”