A Jeanne Site
Annotations on Praxis
Praxis Annotations
Praxis Links Up soon.

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Latest update: April 16, 2000
Curran or Takata.

Praxis: The Taliban

April 14, 2000 editiion of The International News. Scroll down on April 14 issue to article on Taliban sack thousands of civil servants:

"Taliban sack thousands of civil servants, teachers

KABUL: The Taliban has laid off thousands of civil servants, including all female employees and teachers, officials and workers said on Thursday.

The ruling militia had already stopped paying female civil servants their monthly wages before the layoff, they said. There was no sign that the Taliban had any immediate plans to help the laid-off staff find substitute means of livelihood, they added.

Taliban ministers were reluctant to give figures, but civil servants said the redundancies were up to 50 per cent in some ministries, including all female staff. Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel tried to downplay the move, saying they had only terminated those who were not working.

He conceded, however, that female staff would not be paid their wages. "As far as I know, they all have been laid off from those departments where there were no facilities or need to work," he said, when asked if all female teachers and workers were among those laid off.

"We do not have any immediate plans to give jobs to those who have been laid off. But they can find themselves jobs enjoying their free lives," Mutawakel said. If job opportunities came up in future, the laid-off staff would be given the first chance of employment, he said. "There are 35 to 50 per cent redundancies in every ministry," said a senior official who did not want to be named. "Twenty five per cent of lay-offs are men, but the rest are women," he said, adding that the number of affected ministries could reach 25.

Around 50 per cent of staff have been made redundant in the ministry of education, including all female teachers, officials said. Sources in the finance ministry said that 2,800 people had been laid off there, whereas officials in the justice ministry said 40 per cent of their staff had been made redundant.

Taliban officials claimed the drive was to end over-employment caused by previous governments creating unnecessary jobs. The Taliban militia, which holds most of the country, has imposed a strict interpretation of the Islamic Sharia law. Women have been barred from work outside the home and in education. They have to cover themselves from head to toe when they venture out.

In September 1996, when the Taliban captured Kabul, their Supreme Leader Mulla Mohammad Omar issued a decree that women workers should stay at home, but promised to keep paying them regularly.

Female personnel, most of them teachers and administrative staff, came to their offices once or twice a month to sign their names and to receive the equivalent of five US dollars as monthly wages."