January 16, 2004

Afghan TV U-turn on women singers

Afghan state television has gone back on a decision to show female singers, saying the country is not yet ready for such broadcasts.

A song by the popular artist, Salma, was shown on Monday, the first time such images were broadcast since 1992.

But the programming chief of state-run TV, Azizullah Aryanfar, told the AFP news agency: "Current circumstances are not suitable to air women singing."

The decision came after the supreme court complained to the government.
[...]
The supreme court, dominated by conservative former mujahideen fighters, has often accused media in the country of violating Islamic principles.

Monday night's broadcast was old footage of Salma singing a ballad about a refugee. She was wearing a headscarf instead of an all-enveloping burqa.
[...]
However, the supreme court reacted angrily, with Deputy Chief Justice Fazel Ahmed Manawi saying: "This has to be stopped. We are opposed to women singing and dancing as a whole."

That in turn sparked a protest by women's leaders.

Women's Affairs Minister Habiba Surabi said: "The supreme court interferes in issues which are not their business, they want to impose their views on people.

"I didn't see anything un-Islamic in Ms Salma's footage; she was just sitting politely and singing."
[...]
When the Taleban came to power in 1996, it banned all television.

Women have gradually been gaining a higher profile since the fall of the Taleban just over two years ago.

The recent loya jirga, or grand assembly, adopted a new constitution which gave women equal rights.

Here's a big Shout out to my "sisters" in Afghanistan--Keep working for your rights, ladies!
Looks like the Taliban won't give up without a fight; they hate women doing anything in public, especially without those head-to-toe coffee filters called burqas, they hate music and they hate TV.
What a bunch of anal-retentive killjoys!
Maybe the old Mujahadeen and Taliban need to be reminded that they lost their power to Coalition forces in Operation Enduring Freedom!
On the plus side, however, there's this news:
Afghan warlords hand over 100 guns and vehicles

The warlords of Afghanistan handed over more than 100 armoured vehicles and heavy artillery pieces to the Kabul government yesterday, the first major step towards demilitarising the capital.

A convoy of armoured troop carriers, ground-to-ground missile launchers, anti-tank guided missiles, and multiple rocket launchers, nicknamed "city killers" because of their ability to destroy an urban block with one salvo, lined up facing the shell-scarred Darlaman palace, a ruined royal palace.
[...]
The 100 vehicles and arms were handed to the central government and moved to a military camp 10 miles outside the city. Until yesterday they belonged to as many as 30 private military commanders loyal to the Northern Alliance, including the defence minister, Mohammad Fahim.

The warlords are expected to hand over another 300 pieces in the next month, which would completely remove heavy artillery from the capital.
[...]Yesterday's exercise is separate from the disarming of 100,000 militiamen across Afghanistan, which is taking place under the supervision of the United Nations.

This is very good news indeed.
Be wary of the Telegraph's "multilateral" praise of this U.N. disarmament measure: it would never have been possible at all if the United States and her friends and allies hadn't done the heavy lifting and liberated Afghanistan militarily from the Taliban.
It sounds as if Kabul is well on its way to being a free, functioning capital city and when you think about the rubble-piled hellhole it was as recently as October 2001 when we got there, that is no small feat for everyone involved (including both Western forces and native Afghans).
Now if only we could see similar progress and disarmament of the radical Islamist factions in the rest of the country and I pray for that to happen soon.
Afghanistan is a great country filled with marvelous people and especially with long-suffering, smart and irrepressible women!