Remember George W Bush’s rhetoric to promote his wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, about human rights, women’s rights, blah blah blah blah … ?
From British daily The Independent:
Fury as Karzai plans return of Taliban’s religious policeMeanwhile, what is Bush doing to women’s rights in his own country?By Tom Coghlan in Kabul
Published: 17 July 2006
The Afghan government has alarmed human rights groups by approving a plan to reintroduce a Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the body which the Taliban used to enforce its extreme religious doctrine.
The proposal, which came from the country’s Ulema council of clerics, has been passed by the cabinet of President Hamid Karzai and will now go before the Afghan parliament.
“Our concern is that the Vice and Virtue Department doesn’t turn into an instrument for politically oppressing critical voices and vulnerable groups under the guise of protecting poorly defined virtues,” Sam Zia Zarifi of Human Rights Watch said.
“This is specially in the case of women, because infringements on their rights tend to be justified by claims of morality.”
From Women’s eNews:
Women Press U.S. Violations at U.N. Rights ReviewBritish troops in Afghanistan: here.Run Date: 07/17/06
By Bojana Stoparic
WeNews correspondentWhen the U.N. Human Rights Committee in Geneva reviews U.S. compliance with a civil and political rights agreement this week, advocates will be raising women’s rights violations in a critical shadow report.
Bush’s ‘new’ Iraq abolishes women’s rights.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/11/05/koran_translation_angers_afghans_publisher_arrested/
Koran translation angers Afghans, publisher arrested
November 5, 2007
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan police have arrested a man accused of publishing an unofficial translation of the Koran that has sparked protests in parts of the country, newspapers said on Monday.
The translation into Dari, one of Afghanistan’s main languages, sparked an emergency debate in parliament and protests in at least two parts of the country as key passages were changed.
Ghaus Zalmai, the publisher of the translation, was arrested on Sunday trying to cross the border into neighboring Pakistan. Zalmai was also a spokesman for Afghanistan’s attorney general.
“This is a plot against the religion of Islam, and no one will ever accept the book as the holy Koran,” daily Armaan newspaper quoted judge Abdul Salam Azimi as saying.
“The Supreme court has ordered an investigation into this matter and to bring the culprits before the court,” he said.
Perceived insults to Islam, such as the cartoons of the prophet Mohammad or alleged violations of the Koran have sparked angry protests in Afghanistan.
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.
Comment by Administrator — November 5, 2007 @ 4:32 pm