The Taliban on Wednesday banned all protests and slogans in Afghanistan that do not have its approval, The Guardian reported.
A decree was issued by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the new interior ministry. He is wanted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation for his involvement in suicide attacks and links with Al Qaeda.
Haqqani warned opponents in the country of “legal consequences” if they fail to get permission for demonstrations.
The order comes at a time of rising protests against the Taliban regime that seized control of Afghanistan on August 15. The United States, which had occupied the country for 20 years following the 9/11 twin tower attacks, had withdrawn troops from Afghanistan by August 31
Several other countries also evacuated their troops along with thousands of Afghan citizens who wished to flee the Taliban regime.
Over the last three weeks, the insurgent group consolidated its power by capturing the remaining districts. On Monday, they claimed to have captured Panjshir – Afghanistan’s resistance stronghold and the last of the 34 provinces that the Taliban was yet to penetrate.
Following a complete sweep of the country, the Taliban on Tuesday formed an all-male interim government led by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund. He is the head of Rehbari Shura, the Taliban’s decision-making body. The insurgent group’s co-founder, Abdul Ghani Baradar, was chosen as the deputy leader.
Protests that have erupted across the country, often led by women, has posed a challenge to the caretaker government.
In Herat, two people were shot on Tuesday as they participated in a protest calling for “freedom”, AFP reported.
On Wednesday, the Taliban had beaten up women in capital Kabul after they held a protest demanding their rights, the BBC reported. Women told the news channel that Taliban fighters lashed them with whips and thrashed them with batons that emit electric shocks.
Journalists were also abducted and brutally thrashed by the Taliban while they were covering protests against the insurgent group, AFP reported.
More sanctions were imposed on women on Wednesday. The deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, reportedly said that women in Afghanistan cannot not play cricket or any other sport under the new regime.
“I don’t think women will be allowed to play cricket because it is not necessary that women should play cricket,” Wasiq said. “In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this.”
He added: “It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed.”
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