Religiosity is sick, not secularism

WHEN THE MONSTROUS Taliban government announced last week that Afghan women would no longer be allowed to study medicine, my first reaction was horror and then shock.

- Tavleen Singh

Where are those human rights watchdogs who make so much noise about much lesser crimes against humanity? Their silence is despicable, and they have been silent throughout the dehumanising of Afghan women that began for the second time after the Taliban returned to power three years ago.

It is hard not to conclude that this deafening silence is because human rights activists tend to be leftist ideologically, and leftists have shown a peculiar empathy for jihadists of the kind that are currently running Afghanistan. These bearded fanatics have already banned girls from secondary education, from being seen in public unveiled and unescorted by a male relative and even from speaking too loudly. But this is truly the final blow because if there are no women nurses and doctors left, who will deliver babies and tend to the medical needs of women?

Jihadist Islam is evil. There is no question about this and when it becomes mixed up with politics and governance, as in Afghanistan and Iran, it turns into a weapon that is nearly always used against women. When I said something like this on 'X', I got two reactions from Indians on social media and both worried me. The first reaction came from those who believe that Islam is a terrible religion and wherever it exists, this kind of barbarism will become the norm.