At the Lycee Mariam market in Kabul, known for its long row of stalls selling women’s clothing, news of the Taliban’s latest decree that women must wear a face veil had not yet filtered down by the afternoon. 

Some of those browsing the shops wore the all-encompassing blue burka that the Taliban enforced during their first stint in power in the 1990s. Others, however, had scarves covering their hair, but their faces uncovered. 

“Even when you go on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia you don’t have to cover your face,” one pointed out. 

“Humans are born free, no-one has the right to talk about women’s clothes,” said Fatima, a fashionably dressed university student with sunglasses perched on her head. 

Afghanistan is a deeply conservative country, and many women do wear the burka, but in bigger cities it’s also common to see women wearing the simple headscarf. 

After taking power last August, the Taliban had held off issuing new laws on what women should wear – until Saturday.

At a press conference, the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue announced that all women would have to cover their face in public, and laid out an escalating set of punishments for anyone refusing to comply.

The punishment starts with a woman’s male guardian (normally father, brother or husband) being visited at home by Taliban officials. Then, if a woman’s appearance was still not deemed acceptable, her male relative would be summoned to see ministry officials, and after that he could even potentially be jailed for three days or sent to court. 

Akif Muhajir, spokesman for the ministry, told the BBC the order was based on the Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. 

Other Muslims dispute the interpretation, but Akif Muhajir described the face covering as a “compulsory” part of the religion. Only 1% of Afghan women, he insisted, were not already complying with the group’s understanding of how they should dress. “This is not only the order of the Islamic Emirate,” he added, “but the order of Allah.” 

Most Muslims around the world do not consider covering the face to be a mandatory part of the religion, and, after seizing control of the country, the Taliban initially appeared to be adopting a more flexible attitude to governance. 

In recent weeks, however, they have been introducing more hardline measures, many of them governing women’s everyday lives – for example, assigning separate days for them to visit public parks to men, and barring them from undertaking longer distance journeys without a male guardian. 

Teenage girls have still not been allowed back to school in most of the country, and whilst women are working in some sectors such as healthcare and education, many others have been told not to return to their offices. 

Western diplomats have indicated that resuming development funding for the country – currently struggling with a dire economic crisis – is contingent on the Taliban’s treatment of women. 

When announcing this latest decree at the press conference, however, one cleric said the Taliban could never be pressured by the West into compromising on their beliefs.

Former President and Leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Maithripala Sirisena says that the discussions held with the Bar Association of Sri Lanka regarding resolving the current political crisis were very successful.

The discussions focused on how to make the necessary amendments to the Constitution in relation to the current political situation in the country and the solutions to the economic crisis. Other institutions including the Bar Association and the Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce are involved. Our discussion was very successful.

The hope is that we will continue to work together with all political parties and seek the views of organizations such as the Bar Association to resolve these issues. ”

Q. Have you talked about an all-party government now?

“Yes, we have suggested it.”

Q. What do you do when voting on a state of emergency?

“Sri Lanka Freedom Party opposes the imposition of the state of emergency. When a vote comes in Parliament, we vote completely against it. ”

Maithripala Sirisena was speaking to the media after a discussion with representatives of 11 independent parties, including the SLFP, in Parliament this morning (08) with several parties, including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

People are currently engaged in protests in many places in Colombo demanding for gas and kerosene.

Protests have been conducted in the Grandpass area in Colombo since yesterday demanding the supply of gas and currently, the protesters are protesting on the highway. The protest has also caused heavy traffic congestion in the Grandpass area yesterday.

Meanwhile, gas consumers in the Navinna area in Maharagama also started a protest this morning. They were blocking the High-Level Road and police were deployed to control the protesters.

In addition, people in many parts of the country are protesting for gas.

It is reported that there is a shortage of gas throughout the country at present and it has not been possible to supply the required gas for essential services.

We have seen reports that a water cannon vehicle was imported by Government of Sri Lanka under a credit line extended by Government of India. These reports are factually incorrect.

No water cannon vehicles have been supplied by India under any of the credit lines extended by India to Sri Lanka.

Credit line of USD 1 billion to Sri Lanka is intended to help the people of Sri Lanka with availability of food, medicines and other essential items required by the people of Sri Lanka in the current situation.

Such incorrect reports don’t make any constructive contribution to the cooperation and efforts undertaken to address the ongoing challenges faced by the people of Sri Lanka.