Although Persian was previously widely used in government offices, in the past nearly three years, Persian correspondence within judicial institutions has diminished under the Taliban administration, making way for Pashto. Citizens, especially Persian speakers, sometimes resort to Pashto correspondence in the country’s courts either voluntarily or at the verbal instruction of Taliban officials. Some petition writers and defense lawyers in the capital, whose work involves writing correspondence, explain that court visitors believe the administrative staff and Taliban judges prioritize requests and cases written in Pashto. Representatives of the people and political figures describe the fading use of Persian in judicial institutions as a result of discriminatory pressures from the Taliban, warning that the consequences of cultural discrimination will diminish the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan.
Abdul Latif, a retired government officer who had taken up the profession of petition writing near the Taliban Supreme Court in Kabul in recent years, has abandoned his job due to the dwindling demand for Persian correspondence in the Taliban Supreme Court and his unfamiliarity with Pashto. Speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, he said: “During the previous government and the start of the Taliban rule, we wrote all petitions in Persian. Later, clients would turn to Pashto-speaking petition writers, saying that judges didn’t understand Persian and that writing in Pashto would make the case clearer to them. The situation changed, and all the clients were trying to find Pashto-speaking petition writers. Since I didn’t know Pashto, my clients decreased, and eventually, I quit petition writing.”
This former petition writer asserts that although the Taliban Supreme Court has not officially mandated petitions and lawsuits to be solely written in Pashto, administrative staff have repeatedly urged visitors to present their petitions in Pashto.
Muttahar (pseudonym), a defense lawyer, who has been engaged in petition writing, litigation, and advocacy in his private office in Kabul for years, confirms that with the advent of the Taliban regime, Persian correspondence in judicial institutions in the capital has become scarce. However, he explains that the decrease in demand for Persian correspondence in the country’s courts is voluntary by the visitors.
This defense attorney says: “During the Republic era, we used to write petitions, pleadings, defenses, etc., in Dari [Persian], and we would argue in favor of our clients based on the Constitution, criminal law, civil law, and personal status law. Now, on one hand, these laws are not in practice, and on the other hand, the demand from petition writers is that we must write in Pashto for them.”
According to him, now, pleadings, defenses, and petitions submitted to the courts are acceptable in both Persian and Pashto, but petition writers believe that if they present their requests written in Pashto, they will be expedited. This defense attorney adds that Persian-speaking petition writers emphasize more than Pashto speakers to have their requests written to the courts in Pashto.
However, representatives of the former country’s parliament characterize the diminishing use of Persian in judicial institutions as a manifestation of discriminatory pressure exerted by the Taliban. They assert that Persian speakers are compelled to abstain from using Persian in Taliban judicial settings due to discriminatory practices by the Taliban.
Fawzia Koofi, a former parliamentarian from Badakhshan province and a member of the former government’s negotiation team with the Taliban, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily: “The Taliban’s fundamental approach is discrimination and division based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, political beliefs, and sect.” Ms. Koofi adds: “In Afghanistan, even if the majority of people don’t speak Persian, they think in Persian. Persian is understandable in most areas of the country, but because the Taliban’s approach is discriminatory, people are forced to change their communication language with the Taliban to avoid facing discriminatory treatment and to get their governmental affairs done, which is regrettable.”
Fawzia Koofi describes the strengthening and enrichment of official and unofficial languages of any country as the obligations of legitimate governments and adds that since the Taliban regime lacks a constitution, the officials of this group have no commitment to national interests and benefits. She adds: “Even in southern regions, citizens who do not have Persian as their native language but understand Persian, speak and think in Persian. Therefore, the Taliban’s efforts are mostly aimed at attracting the attention of a small group of ethnic fundamentalists, while the majority of the people of Afghanistan are not satisfied with these Taliban actions, and the more these pressures are based on discrimination and separation, the less the Taliban’s power will be and their internal sensitivities will increase.”
Meanwhile, Taliban officials have consistently referred to Persian and Pashto as the country’s two official languages in their official statements, emphasizing that their regime opposes ethnic bias and cultural discrimination against the country’s citizens. However, the Taliban’s actions in the past nearly three years have contradicted these official statements. The removal of Persian words from the signs of universities, hospitals, and government offices, and their replacement with Pashto is a prominent example illustrating the inconsistency between the Taliban’s actions and statements. Furthermore, in many cases, signs of government institutions are adorned only with Pashto and English, eliminating Persian from them. In addition, directives, speeches, and correspondences of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada and other high-ranking Taliban officials are only published in Pashto.
Numerous examples of local Taliban officials’ hostility towards Persian and its speakers have also been reported. In one instance, the Hasht-e Subh Daily obtained documents indicating that Kamaluddin Munib, the Director of Taliban for Takhar State University, ordered the conversion of official correspondence in this university from Persian to Pashto, prohibiting the use of Persian words such as “Danishgah” for university, “Danishkada” for faculty, and “Danishjo” for student.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
طالبان و تبعیضهای فرهنگی؛ مکاتبات فارسی در محاکم جایش را به پشتو خالی کرده است
