RASC News Agency: Sources confirm that Abdul Qadir Qanit, a distinguished religious scholar and former head of the Council for the Protection of Religious and Jihadi Values, has been arrested by the Taliban’s intelligence forces. While the precise reason for his arrest remains undisclosed, Qanit had recently appeared in national media as a religious expert, where he was vocal in criticizing the Taliban’s restrictive policies on women’s and girls’ education.
Qanit’s detention comes at a time when the Taliban have tightened their control over media, recently issuing a list of approved analysts, mandating that no one outside this list be invited to participate in media programs. This move follows the recent arrest of Jawid Kohistani, a political analyst, who was seized from the Khair Khana district of Kabul and taken to an undisclosed location.
The Taliban have yet to provide any explanation for these arrests. Although the group has intensified its crackdown on intellectuals, experts, and analysts, they have offered no official comment regarding the recent spate of detentions. International organizations and human rights advocates have condemned these actions as a “blatant violation” of the right to freedom of expression and human dignity. Yet, as a dictatorial regime driven by extreme religious and ethnic fanaticism, the Taliban continue to disregard both the concerns of the Afghanistani people and the international community. Their relentless pursuit of an authoritarian, ethnocentric agenda, rooted in medieval ideologies, persists unabated.
