Several students at a private university in Herat city have reported that Taliban-run authorities compelled them to sign a pledge emphasizing adherence to the Hanafi school of Islam. According to these students, the forms were distributed compulsorily, leaving no room for refusal or objection.<\/p>\n
On Monday, 21st of Sawr, these students told 8 Sobh newspaper that they were asked to sign the pledge without any discussion or dissent. One student, identifying as a follower of the Shia sect, described this action as direct pressure to change their religion and disregard their religious beliefs.<\/p>\n
The students warned that the contents of this pledge could lead to more religious and behavioral restrictions within the university environment. Earlier reports from other Herat university students indicated the distribution of similar “mandatory pledges,” requiring students to adhere to dress codes and conduct dictated by the Taliban administration.<\/p>\n
According to a document previously obtained by 8 Sobh newspaper, the pledge consists of 14 articles obligating students to follow the Hanafi sect. Students from other Islamic denominations say such measures place them in a discriminatory position and restrict their religious freedom.<\/p>\n
Human rights organizations have repeatedly expressed concern over increasing religious pressures and restrictions on various ethnic and religious groups since the Taliban\u2019s return to power. However, no clear response has yet been provided by Taliban authorities regarding these pledges.<\/p>\n
Herat has also witnessed security incidents in recent years, including an armed attack on a gathering of Shia individuals, which killed at least 11 people and wounded 11 others, with women and children among the victims. These events have heightened concerns about the security situation and religious rights of citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Herat students reveal Taliban officials forced them to sign a mandatory pledge to follow the Hanafi sect, raising concerns over religious freedom and discrimination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}