Malala Yousafzai expressed fear for Afghan women and girls – Telam

Pakistani feminist activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday expressed concern over the Taliban’s return to power last Sunday after 20 years of war, called for an international response to help women and girls Afghanistan, and equate the current situation there with what she suffered in 2012, when Islamist militiamen attacked her in her native Pakistan.

“Like many women, I fear for my Afghan sisters,” writes the young woman. and joined a long list of organizations and leaders who demanded that the rights of women and girls be guaranteed to the Taliban, who during their previous government in the second half of the 1990s applied an ultra-harsh version of Islamic law.

In 2012, Malala was shot in the head after promoting education for girls and young people, for which the then 15-year-old had to be rushed to a Birmingham hospital., in the United Kingdom, where six hours later he regained consciousness.

Now 24, he resides in this country with his family and completed his studies at the prestigious University of Oxford.

“I can’t help but feel grateful for my life today. After graduating from college last year and starting to forge my own career, I can’t imagine losing everything, returning to a life dictated by armed men, ”she wrote.

“Afghan girls and young women are again in a situation I have found myself in, desperate because they will never be allowed to return to a classroom or carry a book. “, he said, quoted by the AFP news agency.

Malala called for an international response to help Afghan women and girls.

“They ask for protection, education, freedom and the future that has been promised to them. We cannot continue to disappoint them. We do not have time to lose. the activist urged.

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, girls’ schools were closed, women were unable to travel or work, and were forced to wear a burqa in public, a full veil with cloth mesh at eye level.

During the five years that this government lasted, women were prohibited from leaving their homes without being accompanied by a male relative, and flogging and executions also took place in squares and stadiums. cities. including stoning for allegations of adultery.

On Tuesday, in an attempt to differentiate himself from this first Taliban government, a spokesperson for the Islamist movement which has taken over power announced that wearing the burqa will not be compulsory for women, because “there are different types of veil “, and that they can also receive education at all levels.

“The burqa is not the only hijab (veil) that can be worn. There are different types of hijab that are not limited to the burqa,” Suhail Shaheen said, quoted by Sky News.