Indian Poet Calls on Clerics to Condemn Taliban's Actions Against Women

Prominent Indian poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar urged mullahs and clerics in India to unconditionally condemn the Taliban's misogynistic actions. In posts on X on Saturday, Akhtar referenced the Taliban's new penal code, stating that the group has legalized wife-beating provided no bones are broken. He added that a woman who goes to her parents' home without her husband's permission faces three months in prison.

Akhtar called on Indian religious scholars to explicitly denounce these measures, which he said are carried out in the name of religion, without any justification. In a separate post, he said political expediency should not lead to granting legitimacy to the "savage Taliban."

Akhtar noted that Indian mullahs recently gave a warm welcome to Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who was a special guest at the Deoband school. Relations between the Taliban and India have expanded significantly in recent months.

Akhtar also recalled Kabul's past as a center of culture and art before the mujahideen and Taliban took control. He referenced a concert by Pakistani ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan in Kabul in 1960 during King Zahir Shah's reign, where Hassan performed in Persian, including the song "Last night when you came from love to the roof" at the Chihil Sutun Palace.

Separately, the spokesperson for Pakistan's president posted a clip of the concert on X, stating that Kabul was once a hub of culture and music. The spokesperson added that this was long before so-called mujahideen, funded by dollars, took power, and well before the savage Taliban turned unfortunate Afghanistan into a large torture camp.

The mujahideen and Taliban have received support from Pakistan at different times. The Taliban considers music haram and has banned musical instruments in media and public places, burning thousands during their current rule.