In Babur’s garden too, Taliban draw a line — men & women, even if family, cannot mingle | World News,The Indian Express
For Kabul residents, the garden, with its chinar and walnut trees and flower beds, is one of the few open spaces in the city, a green oasis that has provided a sense of peace and solace through the violence, turmoil and uncertainty that has constantly battered their country.
At the 500-year-old Bagh-e-Babur, the grand garden designed by the founder of the Mughal dynasty and also the site of his final resting place, there is a flutter at the ticket counter. A man buying a ticket has just learnt that men and women must enter the garden through separate gates.
After some questions and telling the ticket seller that it is a “rubbish rule”, the family separates – women to the right, men to the left. They cannot reunite inside the garden either. The 11 hectare-terraced garden has been partitioned with green baize and ropes into separate sections for men and women after a Taliban decree from the Ministry of Vice and Virtue.
The rule took effect within three months of the Taliban takeover in August last year, said an official at the garden, a UNESCO protected World Heritage Site. Since the park was restored in the first decade of this century, every year, hundreds of thousands of people have visited the 16th century garden where Babur lies buried.
For Kabul residents, the garden, with its chinar and walnut trees and flower beds, is one of the few open spaces in the city, a green oasis that has provided a sense of peace and solace through the violence, turmoil and uncertainty that has constantly battered their country.
But even months after the rule was implemented, many members of the public seem still unaware of the restriction, and are taken aback when they learn about it as they arrive.
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