Taliban opens fire on women protesting for freedom, work and education; stalks a few, arrests others

One of the definite red flags of an autocratic regime or a bad government is how it treats its peacefully protesting citizens. Apart from its strict and controversial interpretation of the Sharia Law, The Taliban is infamous for treating its critics in the most inhuman manner.

On Saturday morning, when The Taliban opened fire on a peaceful protest by Afghan women activists in Kabul, many were not surprised. After all, the women in Kabul were protesting for things that The Taliban is infamously strictly against; freedom, work and education.

The Taliban has allegedly also arrested a few of them. Independent journalist Deepa K. Parent, highlighted via a social media post, "They tell me Taliban violently dispersed them and have arrested a number of protestors." Unfortunately, "After Taliban opened fire on women protestors in Kabul this morning, they hid in a library and managed to move to safety. However, some of them who were detained have switched off their phones and are unreachable."

As per a few social media reports of activists in the area, some of the girls who protested in Kabul, were being followed to find out their home address. The footage of The Taliban shooting at women protestors went viral, much to the strong words of condemnation by social media and other agencies.

Not the first time for Taliban

The incident is not the first or probably the worst of Taliban's atrocities in Afghanistan. It, however, comes less than a year after Taliban opened fire on a group of six women gathered outside a high school in eastern Kabul to demand the girls' right to return to secondary school.

In September last year, shortly after coming to power the hardline Islamist group indulged in a series of violent crackdowns against its protesting citizens to proclaim its resurgence.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, a blast targeted office of the electronic ID in the west of Kabul.