By Sayed Salahuddin
1 hour, 4 minutes ago
The order is the last in a wave of curbs that the resurgent
militants have announced in areas they are active.
A senior Afghan information ministry official, Najib
Manelai, said that dozens of masked men with weapons entered
mosques in Logar province at the weekend and threatened
residents against watching television
"They threatened the people that 'if you do not give up
watching televisions, you will face violence'," Manelai told
Reuters.
Media reports quoted residents as saying that the Taliban
imposed the ban because TV networks were showing programs that
were "un-Islamic and anti-Afghan culture."
Removed from power in 2001, the al Qaeda-backed Taliban who
lead a insurgency against the government and foreign forces,
could not be reached for comment.
But while in power from 1996 until their ouster, the
Taliban Islamists had banned television, music and cinema. More
than a dozen private TV networks and scores of radio stations
have been launched in Afghanistan since their fall.
The information ministry along with security forces was
taking action against the Taliban move, minister Manelai said,
without giving details.
The ban on television programs in Logar follows demands in
recent weeks by a group of religious scholars and the
information minister that some private television stations must
stop broadcasting several Indian soap operas on religious
grounds.
But the demand has been largely ignored.
The Taliban have in recent months also ordered mobile
phones operators to shut down the networks, saying foreign
troops were using the phones to track them down. They have also
warned girls in several parts of the south and east not to
attend schools.
(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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