KABUL: Taleban forces yesterday fired pepper spray at a group of women protesters in Afghanistan’s capital demanding rights to work and education, three demonstrators told AFP. Since seizing control of the country by force in August, the Taleban authorities have imposed creeping restrictions on Afghans, especially on women.

Around 20 women gathered in front of Kabul University, chanting “equality and justice” and carried banners that read “Women’s rights, human rights”, an AFP correspondent reported. The protest however was later dispersed by the Taleban fighters who arrived at the scene in several vehicles, three women protesters told AFP.

“When we were near Kabul University three Taleban vehicles came, and fighters from one of the vehicles used pepper spray on us,” said a protester, who asked not to be named for security reasons. “My right eye started to burn. I told one of them ‘shame on you’, and then he pointed his gun at me.”

Two other protesters said that one of the women had to be taken to hospital after the spray caused an allergic reaction to her eyes and face. An AFP correspondent saw a fighter confiscate a mobile phone of a man who was filming the demonstration. The hardline Islamist group have banned unsanctioned protests and frequently intervened to forcefully break up rallies demanding rights for women.

The Taleban authorities have blocked women public sector employees from returning to work, many secondary schools have still not reopened for girls, and public universities are shut. Long distance trips for women who are not accompanied by a close male relative have been banned.

The authorities have also issued guidelines that prevent television channels from broadcasting serials featuring women actors. Meanwhile, many women are living in hiding, fearful of a regime notorious for human rights abuses during their first stint in power between 1996-2001, before being ousted by a US-led invasion.

Meanwhile, the Taleban have dismissed about 3,000 members accused of abusive practices from its hardline Islamist movement in a widespread “vetting process” launched since coming to power, an official said Saturday. The Taleban took back control of Afghanistan in August after a 20-year insurgency against former US-backed governments and NATO foreign forces.

Promising a softer rule to their 1996-2001 regime, the Taleban government launched a commission to identify members who were flouting the movement’s regulations. “They were giving a bad name to the Islamic Emirate. They were removed in this vetting process so that we can build a clean army and police force in the future,” the head of the panel Latifullah Hakimi in the defence ministry told AFP.

So far about 2,840 members had been dismissed, he said. “They were involved in corruption, drugs and were intruding in people’s private lives. Some also had links with Daesh,” Hakimi said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Taleban fighters have been accused by rights groups of extrajudicial killings of former security force members, despite an order from the movement’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada of an amnesty. The regional chapter of the jihadist group has emerged as a major security challenge to the hardline Islamist administration, often targeting officials in gun and bomb attacks in Kabul and other cities. Hakimi said those suspended were from 14 provinces and the process to “filter out” such members will continue in other provinces.

Since seizing power the Taleban authorities have restricted the freedoms of Afghans, especially women. Women public sector workers have been largely blocked from returning to work, while many secondary schools have not reopened for girls. Long distance trips for women who are not accompanied by a close male relative have also been banned. – AFP