After arresting some activists, Taliban members continue threaten, intimidate women activists

The Taliban members continue to threaten and harass women activists to intimidate them after arresting some women activists recently, according to a media report.

Even as the Taliban tries to persuade the world to recognise and financially support its government, it has embarked on a violent crackdown on dissent. In recent weeks, Taliban fighters have targeted women's rights activists, especially those protesting the Taliban's denial of their basic rights, reported The Washington Post.

Armed militants have beaten female demonstrators, sprayed pepper spray in their faces and shocked them with electric prods, according to a half-dozen activists interviewed by the US-based publication.

Taliban fighters have targeted women's rights activists, especially those protesting the Taliban's denial of their basic rights. Recently, the Taliban arrested some women activists who were protesting against the Taliban and asking them to provide women their basic rights.

Sahar Fetrat, Assistant Researcher for Human Rights Watch said that through the abduction of these women, the Taliban are sending a clear message about how society should function, who is the authority and the power, and how people should obey it.

"It is about stopping any kind of activism, any kind of protest against the Taliban."The targeting of female activists has continued even after a meeting late last month in Oslo, where Taliban representatives met with special envoys from the United States and European nations to seek more humanitarian aid and diplomatic recognition, reported The Washington Post.

Currently, in Afghanistan's most areas, girls cannot attend school beyond the sixth grade. Women in the country are also banned from government jobs with the exception of those working in the health sector and education.

The Taliban had been continuously indulging in anti-women activities. There is no women minister among the new 33 new cabinet ministers of the Taliban's interim government. They also shut down the Ministry of Women's Affairs and turned it into the office of the religious morality police.

And a new rule by the Taliban months back that ordered women are now required to take a male relative with them on long journeys, proved that the group will rarely take any step to promote women rights and protect them.

With the arrest of women activists and reports of harassing them, the human rights groups' incidents and activists have asked the Taliban to take measures to prevent such incidents in future and take actions against responsible people.

Ravina Shamdasani, the spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, journalists in Geneva said that the authorities should take measures to ensure the activists' "safe and immediate release" and hold those responsible accountable, according to the Washington Post.

( With inputs from ANI )