Experts critical of ‘vice, virtue law’ restrictions in Afghanistan

Islamabad : Experts on Afghan affairs have called enactment of a strict “promotion of virtue and prohibition of vice” law as a recent case of additional restrictions on the fundamental rights of Afghans, especially the Afghan women, whose future remained uncertain amidst the prevailing restrictions on their movement and education.

They were addressing a roundtable discussion organised here by Institute of Regional Studies (IRS). They called for adopting a regional approach towards various challenges confronting and emanating from Afghanistan, including economic, human rights and terrorism related challenges.

The experts pointed out that notwithstanding the relative political stability, human rights, especially women rights, remained compromised in Afghanistan. The participants also felt that forming an inclusive government remained a major challenge for the Afghan interim administration besides the economic situation of the country. The speakers were of the view that even though Afghanistan economy did not collapse as some had predicted, it remained precariously fragile.

They argued that with the establishment of de facto diplomatic relations with more and more capitals of the world, the Kabul interim administration was slowly expanding its diplomatic footprint. They maintained that though as an interim administration, the regime in Kabul did not enjoy support of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan, it was seen as a force that had brought about a certain amount of political stability and an end to large-scale violence in Afghanistan.

While highlighting the efforts of interim administration in Kabul towards expanding economic relations with the neighbouring countries, concerns were also expressed over the long-term health of the Afghan economy. Many speakers also urged the set up in Afghanistan to ease restrictions on the travel of journalists to Afghanistan to report from the ground so that a factual picture of Afghanistan could be presented to the world.

The speakers of the roundtable included Major General Muhammad Raza Aizad, Director-General, Institute of Strategic Studies Research and Analysis (ISSRA), National Defence University, Jauhar Saleem, President, IRS, Salman Javed, Director-General, Pak-Afghan Youth Forum, athlete and women’s rights activist Samar Khan and senior journalists Tahir Khan, Sumera Khan and Khalid Khan.