'Extremism in Afghanistan a threat to Pakistan': Fawad Chaudhry

• Fawad Chaudhry laments women cannot travel alone in Afghanistan, go to school.
• Chaudhry says Quaid's vision was to establish a state where Muslims, minorities could live peacefully.
• Federal minister says lynching incidents happen every now and then in India.

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said Monday the extremist elements in Afghanistan posed a threat to Pakistan.

"Women are not allowed to travel alone in Afghanistan, and they cannot go to school as well," he said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of a photo exhibition on the life of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the Pak-China centre.

The federal minister's comments came a day after the Afghan Taliban said that women seeking to travel long distances should not be offered transport unless they are accompanied by a close male relative.

The guidance, issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also called on all vehicle owners to offer rides only to those women wearing hijabs.

"Women travelling for more than 45 miles (72 kilometres) should not be offered a ride if they are not accompanied by a close family member," ministry spokesman Sadeq Akif Muhajir told AFP on Sunday, specifying that it must be a close male relative.

The guidance, circulated on social media networks, comes weeks after the ministry asked Afghanistan's television channels to stop showing dramas and soap operas featuring women actors.

The ministry had also called on women TV journalists to wear hijabs while presenting.

Meanwhile, condemning the tragic incident of Sialkot, the minister said the entire nation was united after it. On the contrary, he said such incidents with Muslims "were a norm in India."

He said today’s New York Times carried a front-page article "exposing atrocities" being committed against the Christian community in India.

The information minister said Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP had made the lives of all minorities miserable in India.

Talking about the vision of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal, he said they wanted to establish an Islamic welfare state where Muslims and minorities could live freely and peacefully irrespective of their caste and creed.

The information minister opined that today the biggest challenge was to reclaim Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Pakistan, and Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted to transform the country into a state in line with the founding father's vision.

Chaudhry said Quaid-e-Azam made his vision clear of Pakistan in his three major speeches — one in the Constituent Assembly, his addresses to the Army officers, and the bureaucracy.

He said both Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal were modern, progressive, and visionary leaders who realised what would happen to Muslims and other minorities in the future.

— Additional input from APP