“Yes, it's true,” Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani told AFP when asked to confirm reports that girls had been ordered home.

He would not immediately explain the reasoning, while education ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmad Rayan said: “We are not allowed to comment on this.”

An AFP team was filming at Zarghona High School in the capital, Kabul, when a teacher entered and said the class was over.

Crestfallen students, back at school for the first time since the Taliban seized power in August last year, tearfully packed up their belongings and filed out.

“I see my students crying and reluctant to leave classes,” said Palwasha, a teacher at Omra Khan girls' school in Kabul. “It is very painful to see your students crying.”

United Nations envoy Deborah Lyons called reports of the closure “disturbing”. “If true, what could possibly be the reason?” she tweeted.

“The UN in Afghanistan deplores today's reported announcement by the Taliban that they are further extending their indefinite ban on female students above the sixth grade being permitted to return school,” the United Nations' Mission to Afghanistan said in a statement.

The US Charge' d'Affaires for Afghanistan, Ian McCary, currently based in Qatar, said in a tweet that he was deeply troubled by the reports.

“This is very disappointing & contradicts many Taliban assurances & statements,” he said.

When the Taliban took over last August, schools were closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but only boys and younger girls were allowed to resume classes two months later.

There were fears the Taliban would shut down all formal education for girls, as they did during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

The international community has made the right to education for all a sticking point in negotiations over aid and recognition of the new Taliban regime, with several nations and organisations offering to pay teachers.

On Wednesday, the order for girls' secondary schools to resume appeared to only be patchily observed, with reports emerging from some parts of the country — including the Taliban's spiritual heartland of Kandahar — that classes would restart next month instead.

But several did reopen in the capital and elsewhere, including Herat and Panjshir — temporarily at least.

“All the students that we are seeing today are very happy, and they are here with open eyes,” Latifa Hamdard, principal of Gawharshad Begum High School in Herat, told AFP.

Barriers

The education ministry said reopening the schools was always a government objective and the Taliban were not bowing to international pressure.

“We are doing it as part of our responsibility to provide education and other facilities to our students,” ministry spokesman Rayan told AFP on Tuesday.

The Taliban had insisted they wanted to ensure schools for girls aged 12 to 19 were segregated and would operate according to Islamic principles.

The Taliban have imposed a slew of restrictions on women, effectively banning them from many government jobs, policing what they wear and preventing them from travelling outside of their cities alone.

They have also detained several women's rights activists.

Even if schools do reopen fully, barriers to girls returning to education remain, with many families suspicious of the Taliban and reluctant to allow their daughters outside.

Others see little point in girls learning at all.

“Those girls who have finished their education have ended up sitting at home and their future is uncertain,” said Heela Haya, 20, from Kandahar, who has decided to quit school.

“What will be our future?”

It is common for Afghan pupils to miss chunks of the school year as a result of poverty or conflict, and some continue lessons well into their late teens or early twenties.

Human Rights Watch also raised the issue of the few avenues girls are given to apply their education.

“Why would you and your family make huge sacrifices for you to study if you can never have the career you dreamed of?” said Sahar Fetrat, an assistant researcher with the group.

The education ministry acknowledged authorities faced a shortage of teachers — with many among the tens of thousands of people who fled the country as the Taliban swept to power.

“We need thousands of teachers and to solve this problem we are trying to hire new teachers on a temporary basis,” the spokesman said.

 LAHORE: As many as 21 students were critically injured when two groups clashed on the new campus of the Punjab University on Tuesday after the Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT) objected to a girl and boy sitting together.

A girl and a boy were sitting at a canteen outside the Gender Studies department when the IJT activists came there and asked them to leave.

The students belonged to the Punjabi Council, who called their group members sitting nearby and they first tried to stop the IJT activists from harassing the duo.

Both the student groups did not listen to each other and a clash erupted.

The students, who were armed with iron and wooden rods, clashed and eight of them suffered injuries. The injured were identified as Khayam, Aqib, Shahzaman, Muhammad Khan, Zubair, Faisal, Usman and Raza.

The injured were taken to nearby hospital for treatment. Mostly of the students suffered head injuries.

The university administration called police who managed dispersal of the students.

IJT spokesperson Ibrahim Shahid denied harassing any student and said the activists were conducting a study circle in the Gender Studies department when Punjabi Council members attacked them around 2pm.

He said the administration intervened and got the matter resolved. Later, the IJT activists were staging a rally when the Punjabi Council members attacked them.

He claimed that 15 of the IJT activists got injured and four to five of them were critical.

Punjabi Council Chairman Aqib Malik said the IJT activists approached their group members sitting outside the Gender Studies department and asked the girls to leave.

He said, “They were saying that the girls and boys are not allowed to sit together. One of our activists resisted and he was thrashed and beaten by the IJT.”

He said later they were going to the hostel when around 100 IJT activists approached them and started beating them with iron rods and daggers.

He said six of their activists got injured and three of them were critical after suffering head injury and one was stabbed in the chest and arm of another was fractured.

DIG Operations Dr Abid Khan directed the Iqbal Town Division SP to take measures and control the situation.

He said action would be taken against all the suspects involved in creating a law and order situation.

PU spokesperson Khurrum Shehzad said no one would be allowed to disturb the environment of the campus and disciplinary and legal action would be taken against the students involved in the clash.

Thoul Chaang is a big village in tehsil Jampur of district Rajanpur with a population of 1,000 residents but it does not have even a primary school for its children.

Sherbaz, a resident of the village, told Dawn that he had provided a mudroom for holding classes for the children of his village but a permanent teacher could not be arranged. He demanded appointment of a permanent teacher and construction of a school building in the village.

The primary classes from grade one to fifth are held in the one-room educational facility, provided by Sherbaz.

They are taught by the volunteers from the village who can read and write. When this correspondent talked to the children of various classes, they were very ambitious to get an education.

They demanded the government set up a permanent primary school and appoint teachers in it.

Dera Ghazi Khan Commissioner Liaqat Ali Chatha told Dawn the project of the establishment of a primary school in village Thoul Chaang would be included in the next budget and educational facilities would be provided to the children of the area.

The chief executive officer of the Rajanpur district education authority was not available for comments.

The capacity of the amphitheatre where the concert was held was approximately 2,500 but over 3,500 tickets were sold, according to one of the organisers of the event. This led to chaos outside the venue, several people not being allowed to enter despite possessing tickets, and a stampede inside. At least one student was injured but the extent of her injuries is still unclear. The varsity administration said so far, they have received no official complaints. They accepted that one student had been injured and said the claims on social media were "false".

The university's Vice-Chancellor's Office confirmed to Images that an FIR will be lodged and said refunds for the concert tickets for those who were not able to enter the premises are under way. So far, the university says it has refunded Rs200,000 worth of tickets to women who had bought tickets but were not able to enter the amphitheatre. The administration has asked the organisers to refund the money to the students and issue an apology to the artists, especially Asim Azhar. A meeting was held on Saturday to discuss their course of action.

The Race Course Police confirmed that no FIR had been filed as of Saturday evening.

The concert lineup featured artists such as Hasan Raheem, Azhar, Risham Faiz Bhutta, Ali Arif and the band, Sami Khan and a surprise performance by actor Hira Mani. However, Azhar was unable to appear on stage.

Raheem and other celebrities shared clips from the event, showing a massive crowd.

Asim Azhar speaks out

Azhar took to Instagram to apologise to all the people who were "disappointed" that he couldn't perform and came specifically for him. "I was backstage the entire time with my team ready - but due to the issues of management and crowd control, they told us we could not perform. There were a lot of people in the crowd getting injured and they had to stop it," he wrote.

Azhar also wrote that the venue capacity could not hold the amount of people that were present. He also said that he had no "other choice but to listen to the management" as it was legitimately concerning. He called it as surprising for him as it was for the people who were there to watch him perform. "We are disappointed as you guys are. Trust me," wrote the singer while hoping that he meets everyone very soon.

The 'Ghalat Fehmi' singer wrote that sometimes thing are out of his and his team's control and that nothing makes him more sad than not being able to see and perform for his fans. He also clarified that his team had no idea about the ticket situation and that the management or the organisers are to be blamed in this case. "We are just artists who are called to perform. However we still apologise on the management's behalf as well," the singer wrote.

Azhar mentioned that if this had been controlled beforehand, nobody could've gotten injured. He also repeated on how "disappointed" he and his team were. The singer wrote, "we have also put pressure on the organisers to control the damages and get a refund for every person who bought the ticket and wasn't able to watch the rest of the performances due to THEIR lack of protocol."

He also lent support to those affected and injured at the event. "I'd love to help out in any way that I can. All love and prayers for you guys," said Azhar.

Organisers apologise

The 25-year-old singer's explanation came hours after the organisers, Top Ventures Events posted an apology and explanation of what happened at the concert. "To begin with, we want to apologise to the attendees who bought tickets to this event. In our defense, we stopped over 400 attendees with fake passes of the event and when the gates crashed due to excessive push from the crown, hundred attendees entered the venue without tickets," wrote the organisers.

They also admitted that this caused injuries and distress to those who "had legitimate tickets" at the event. The organisers claimed that "attendees climbed over the walls, ripped through our security fencing and pushed through gates to enter the venue, causing management problems."

An organiser told Images on the condition of anonymity that the concert was held at the amphitheatre of the college and due to poor management there was a stampede. The show was organised by the business department of the college with some private sponsors involved. Azhar was asked to leave due to the stampede and could not perform, confirmed the organiser.

They also revealed that only two to three singers were able to perform at the event, including Raheem. There was a capacity of 2,500 people, but the management sold 3,500 tickets, said the organiser.

The matter was brought into the knowledge of the principal of Kinnaird College who called off the event immediately. The police confirmed to Images that they received a call to 15 and sent officers to the scene. The college administration said they called the police to control the crowd. Images could not confirm whether the administration made the call as all calls to 15 are anonymous.

Students outraged

A student who attended the event told Images that they waited for an hour or two in long queues outside the amphitheatre, waiting for the gates to open. When they did, the crowd got forceful and pushed each other to get to the gates, which resulted in a lot of chaos and confusion, she said.

The bouncers let some women in in batches, shutting the gates at intervals. The crowd was huge and the constricted movement led to some attendees “fainting and falling down.” The student mentioned that the security people were rather brisk and rude with crowd control and passed “derogatory remarks.”

She shared how she was personally affected by the “mismanaged” concert. “There were metal barriers outside the amphitheatre and my friend and I were standing very close to them. The security didn't open them, saying that the house was full and there is no more space. People kept pushing, my friend and I were pushed into the barrier which hit us so bad that I have a bruise. People were screaming in pain, crying, protesting and demanding refunds.”

She continued, “My scarf was displaced from my head, resulting in knots around my neck and I couldn't breathe. I felt as if there was no air — there literally wasn't — and I just couldn't take it anymore.”

The student said they were promised refunds nothing was done. “Then they said we'll refund your money if you show us your tickets, which didn't happen as expected.” When they announced they won't refund the money, a couple of girls went up to confront them but were met with shouts and verbal abuses, according to the student.

Many other students took to social media to share their outrage at the mismanagement.

The university management says it will release a statement on the incident.