How would we react if a country with a significant Muslim population bars at least half of its Muslim citizens and residents from some of their most basic rights? Given our public position about the rights of Muslims — all Muslims that is — we should expect our government and our diplomatic corp to come in full swing and raise the issue in tweets and speeches, policy briefs and press conferences. We would laugh at taunts and jibes from those who deal in the art of sarcasm, and would expect flyers for a few public rallies with celebrities leading the way.
Given all this, I don’t see why there is a complete silence when the new Afghan government only chooses to open boys schools, when it dismantles the ministry of women’s welfare and shows no real interest in providing the right of education to girls and women?
We speak loudly, as we should, when Muslim homes, institutions and businesses are attacked by mobs in India. We call out aggression, as we should, when innocent people in Gaza die. We argue forcefully, as we should, about an unequal world where Muslims are stigmatised and marginalised. But is our policy limited only for Muslim rights in countries that we do not have good relations with? Or is it only for the rights of Muslim boys and men?
The complete denial of education to women in Afghanistan has failed to trouble our elite. Religious scholars and government officials — and many others in the general public — seem to be quite alright with this denial. Some fellow citizens are suggesting that we ought to be patient and it would happen in the near future when the time is right, while others are saying that this is an internal matter of another country and that we should not be interfering. Unfortunately both of these positions are extremely problematic. The first one shows our alignment with, and support of, discrimination. Those in this camp clearly do not think that girls have an equal right to education as boys do. They are fine with girls having to wait for the right time, while boys education certainly cannot wait. They may not accept a medal of discrimination around their neck, but that is exactly what they deserve.
The second position is just as troubling. It is also inherently contradictory to all our foreign policy posturing (including statements made at the UN General Assembly last week). If it is OK for the head of the government to say that he is engaging with the government in Kabul, why is it not OK for us to argue for a basic human right for girls? The other side of the argument about not interfering in internal matters is even more bizarre when viewed in the light of statements about the plight of Muslims in India. My argument is that we should speak up for everyone’s basic rights — regardless of gender, faith or geography, whether they are attacked because of their religion, or denied the right to pray and fast and forced in a concentration camp, or whether the government chooses to deny them education.
A universal right to education has to be viewed as a right, not a privilege provided by a government. Indeed, there are countries and regions where lack of schools, teachers and resources deny this right to millions of children. But deliberately choosing boys over girls to have that right is unconscionable. This is not a liberal rallying cry, or a value of the west. It is a right that is based on characteristics of equality, justice and fairness — values that we consider to be our guiding light.
It is not just bad behaviour and bad policy, it is also a reminder to girls and women in our country, that who knows, in the future we may be perfectly fine with denying them their basic rights. That is, if we are not already there.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2021.
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