I chanced upon this piece at Pak tribune, it lists the list of dont’s being implemented at Swat in Pakistan by Taliban. I realise that though Muthalik and his men are doing very shameful acts but they have lot of catching up to do if they want to imitate their idols across the border. look at the list:
1- Complete ban on women’s work outside the home, which also applied to female teachers, engineers and most professionals. Only a few female doctors and nurses were allowed to work in some hospitals to look after the female patients only.
2- Complete ban on women’s activity outside the home unless accompanied by a ‘mahram’ (close male relative such as a father, brother or husband).
3- Ban on women dealing with male shopkeepers.
4- Ban on women being treated by male doctors.
5- Ban on women studying at schools, universities or any other educational institution. (The Swat Taliban have already let their distaste for women’s education be known by bombing close to 200 girl’s schools in the past few months.)
6- Requirement that women wear a long veil (Burqa), which covers them from head to toe.
7- Whipping, beating and verbal abuse of women not clothed in accordance with Taliban rules, or of women unaccompanied by a mahram.
8- Whipping of women in public for having non-covered ankles.
9- Public stoning of women (and men) accused of having sex outside marriage. (A number of lovers were stoned to death under this rule).
10- Ban on the use of cosmetics.
11- Ban on women talking or shaking hands with non-mahram males.
12- Ban on women laughing loudly. (No stranger should hear a woman’s voice).
13- Ban on women wearing high heel shoes, which would produce sound while walking. (A man must not hear a woman’s footsteps.)
14- Ban on women riding in a taxi without a mahram.
15- Ban on women’s presence in radio, television or public gatherings of any kind.
16- Ban on women playing sports or entering a sport center or club.
17- Ban on women riding bicycles or motorcycles, even with their mahrams.
18- Ban on women’s wearing brightly colored clothes. In Taliban terms, these are “sexually attracting colors.”
19- Ban on women gathering for festive occasions such as the Eids, or for any recreational purpose.
20- Ban on women washing clothes next to rivers or in a public place.
21- Modification of all place names including the word “women.” For example, “women’s garden” had been renamed “spring garden”.
22- Ban on women appearing on the balconies of their apartments or houses.
23- Compulsory painting of all windows, so women can not be seen from outside their homes.
24- Ban on male tailors taking women’s measurements or sewing women’s clothes.
25- Ban on males and females traveling on the same bus. Public buses were designated “males only” (or “females only”).
26- Ban on the photographing or filming of women.
27- Ban on women’s pictures printed in newspapers and books, or hung on the walls of houses and shops.
Apart from the above restrictions on women, the Afghan Taliban also had:
- Banned listening to music, not only for women but men as well.
- Banned the watching of movies, television and videos, for everyone.(Witness the bombing of audio/video shops in the NWFP Province)
- Ordered that all people with non-Islamic names change them to Islamic ones.
- Forced haircuts upon Afghan youth.
- Ordered that men wear Islamic clothes and a cap.
- Ordered that men not shave or trim their beards, which should grow long enough to protrude from a fist clasped at the point of the chin. (Witness the bombing of barber shops in the NWFP Province)
- Ordered that all people attend prayers in mosques five times daily.(As if obeisance to God could be ordered by dictat)
- Banned the keeping of pigeons and playing with the birds, describing it as un-Islamic. The violators were imprisoned and the birds were killed.
- Ordered all onlookers, while encouraging the sportsmen, to chant Allah-o-Akbar (God is great) and refrain from clapping.
- Ban on certain games including kite flying which was considered “un-Islamic” by the Taliban.
- Anyone who carried ‘objectionable literature’ was liable to be executed.
- Anyone who converts from Islam was liable to be executed.
- All boy students wore turbans. They said “No turban, no education”.
- Non-Muslim minorities wore distinct badge or stitch a yellow cloth onto their dress to be differentiated from the majority Muslim population. (Just like what Nazis did with Jews)
- Banned the use of the internet by both ordinary Afghans and foreigners.
