It might seem tame fare, but Bollywood movies, Western pop videos and even Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments have got Afghanistan's fledgling cable TV stations in hot water.
This week, an appeal from the country's top Islamic judge prompted the Cabinet to order the networks temporarily off the air -- just three years since a Taliban ban on television was lifted.
PHOTO: AP
"The consequences are disastrous for Afghanistan," Saad Mohseni, director of Tolo TV, said Thursday. He forecast more restrictions would follow.
The spat is the latest in the battle for control of Afghan society between still-influential religious conservatives, and liberals and entrepreneurs enjoying new Afghan media freedoms.
Supreme Court chief justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari, an arch conservative, picked the moment of maximum impact to strike.
"It was during Ramadan prayers in the mosque at the presidential palace. The ambassadors from several Islamic countries were also there," said Mohammed Yusuf Etebar, President-elect Hamid Karzai's top civil servant said.
"The Supreme Court chief told Mr. Karzai about the wicked films, that these cable channels are against Afghan culture and against Afghan values."
US-backed Karzai's Cabinet decided to shut down all cable TV until new regulations are drawn up on what they can show.
It was a victory for Shinwari who was on the losing side in January, when the government ignored his protests over the return of veiled female singers to state television screens. The ban had originated with Islamic fundamentalists who ruled in the early 1990s and was lifted only when the repressive Taliban regime fell.
But following Karzai's victory in Afghanistan's landmark Oct. 9 election, the liberals have lost their champion. Culture Minister Makhdom Raheen fought for the TV stations in January, but critics now accuse him of switching sides to ensure his post as Karzai ponders how to build a government that reaches out to all parts of Afghan society.
Mohammed Hashem Pakzad, the owner of Ariana, one of about 20 cable operators in Kabul, said he read about the new ban in the newspaper and stopped transmitting for fear police "in a bad mood" might come and smash up his office.
"I'm a Muslim, and I wouldn't show any sexy films," he said. "This is just a conspiracy against the cable operators. These people just want to keep Afghan people in the dark."
Wahid Mujdah, a Supreme Court spokesman, made plain the conservatives' main target are the Indian films hugely popular with young Afghans for their raunchy dance routines.
"Immoral" movies were even blamed for the recent fatal stabbing of a student at Kabul University which has led to street protests in capital.
"The boys are disturbing the girls in these films. Then there are gangs fighting each other. All these things are against Afghan culture," Mujdah said.
A screening last week of the The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston provided more ammunition.
"It showed the prophet Moses with short trousers and among the girls," Mujhad said. "He's a very holy person and Islam respects him. This is wrong."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese