Akif: Women-run parlors, shops not closed in Balkh, Baghlan

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Vice and Virtue (MoVV) has rejected as incorrect meda reports about the closure of beauty parlors and shops run by women in northern Balkh and Baghlan provinces.

MoVV spokesperson Mohammad Sadiq Akif on his twitter handle said: “Some media outlets have reported that some beauty parlor salons in Baghlan and some women-run shops in Balkh provinces have been closed by officials of MoVV, such reports are incorrect and far from reality”.

Efforts are underway to find an alternative location for such women shopkeepers and till that these women should be working in the same location, Akif said.

It is worth mentioning that a number of businesswomen in City Walk market of Balkh province had told reporters that they had been ordered to close their shops in one week by the provincial Vice and Virtue department.,

But MawlawiNasrullahHotak, head of the provincial media office, said that their directorate was not against doing business by women, but the decision was taken because men and women operated in one location.

“Our directorate is trying to find another location (market) for women where they can run their businesses for female customers”, Hotak said.

There are two markets — Rabia Balkhi and City Walk – where women run 10 shops there and have employed 30 other women.

aw/ma