ISLAMABAD: A female Indian travel vlogger travelling alone in Afghanistan has claimed that authorities in Bamyan threatened to arrest her for being alone during her sojourn in the land of the Taliban.
Arunima, from southern Kerala, who runs the Facebook page "Backpacker Arunima," wrote that officials in central Afghanistan's Bamyan province told her she had violated the law by travelling alone.
Arunima lives in Brazil and has travelled to many countries. She has travelled alone everywhere and faced no problems except for Afghanistan.
She shared on her Facebook page a picture of a Taliban official's message in Pashto and its English translation, reading: “You were arrested by Mujahideen just now because you do not have an official letter.”
However, at around 8 GMT she wrote on her Facebook page, “I am safe now,” explaining that a local in Bamyan province talked to the Taliban officials and convinced them to allow her a night there.
“According to the law of this country, a woman cannot travel alone,” she wrote, adding that earlier she was denied a permit in Jalalabad because she was travelling without a male companion.
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan implements strict Islamic laws, under which a woman cannot go out of her house without being in the company of a close relative, called a "mahram."
Arunima claimed that some of the Taliban officials in Bamyan even asked for "10000 money" (she didn’t mention the currency).
The vlogger had earlier posted on social media claiming that she had been arrested by “Mujahideen” while travelling in Afghanistan and had appealed for help. She also shared what she described as an official communication relating to her detention.
Message of a Taliban official and its translation (Backpacker Arunima)
In her subsequent account, however, Arunima said local authorities threatened to arrest her, but they did not take her into custody. Her claims could not be independently verified.
Arunima said she was travelling alone through Afghanistan and had encountered difficulties obtaining travel permits because she was a woman travelling without a male companion.
Restrictions on women
The incident comes against the backdrop of sweeping restrictions imposed on women in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Women have faced restrictions on movement, education, employment and access to public spaces, with rules and their enforcement varying across the country.
Apart from her alleged harassment in Bamyan province, Arunima shared several videos showing her activities inside Afghanistan and posted texts about the same.
These videos include her interaction with Afghan children, travelling in a bus, eating dinner with a family indoors, and being stopped at a check post and questioned by a Taliban official.