Afghan refugee women hold protest against Taliban

Dawn, Jan 12)

By Our Staff Correspondent

QUETTA, Jan 11: Hundreds of Afghan refugee women held an anti-Taliban protest meeting here to seek world attention and help in securing their rights and to demand and end to food blockade of the Hazarajat region in Afghanistan by Taliban.

They strongly criticized the Taliban leadership for denying the women their due rights and said that without resolving the women's issues there would be no permanent solution to the Afghan crisis.

The speakers, mostly teachers of an Afghan school, said the Afghan women also rendered sacrifices against former Soviet Union invasion and now they wanted to fully take part in the development of Afghanistan.

But, they regretted, both the governments, of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani and Taliban, have put restrictions on them. They said today they were beaten up in bazaars.

The Afghan women, who were addressing the meeting in Persian, said the Taliban food blockade of Hazarajat had forced the people to eat grass. They appealed to international bodies and other countries to make Taliban lift the blockade and give women their just rights.