Afghanistan: Taliban Issue New Fatwa On Television Channels

Kabul: A new “religious guideline” was issued by the Taliban authorities on Sunday that directed Afghanistan’s all television channels to stop dramas and soap operas featuring women actors.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice called on female television journalists to wear Islamic hijabs while presenting their reports on television.

The ministry also asked the television channels to not air films or programmes in which the Prophet Mohammed or other revered figures are shown.

It called for a blanket ban on films or programmes that were against Islamic and Afghan values. “These are not rules but a religious guideline,” ministry spokesman Hakif Mohajir was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

The fresh directive was circulated widely on social media networks late on Sunday.

Despite promising to be moderate this time, the Taliban have already put in place rules that have not gone down well with the rest of the world. They have issued fatwas on what women can wear at the university and beaten and harassed Afghan journalists even after promising to uphold press freedom.

ALSO READ: Taliban Welcome India’s Afghanistan Meet, Call It ‘Extraordinary Convergence’