JALALABAD (AFGHANISTAN): A radio station run by women in northeastern Afghanistan has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said Saturday.
Sadai Banowan, which means women’s voice in Dari, is the only women’s station in Afghanistan and started 10 years ago. It has eight staff, six of them female.
Moezuddin Ahmadidirector for information and culture in Badakhshan province, said the station violated the “laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” several times by broadcasting songs and music during Ramadan and was closed due to the violation
“If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing, we will allow it to operate again,” Ahmadi said.
Head of station Najia Sorosh denied there was a breach, saying there was no need for the closure and called it a conspiracy. The Taliban “told us that you broadcast music. We did not broadcast any kind of music,” he said.
Sorosh said Thursday at 11:40 am representatives of the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Vice and Direction of virtue arrived at the station and closed. She said station staff contacted Vice and virtue but officials told us they have no additional information about the closure.
Many journalists lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The media closed due to lack of funds or because the staff left the country, according to the Association of Afghan Independent Journalists.
The Taliban barred women from most forms of employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university. There is no official ban on music. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban banned most television, radio and newspapers in the country.
Sadai Banowan, which means women’s voice in Dari, is the only women’s station in Afghanistan and started 10 years ago. It has eight staff, six of them female.
Moezuddin Ahmadidirector for information and culture in Badakhshan province, said the station violated the “laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” several times by broadcasting songs and music during Ramadan and was closed due to the violation
“If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing, we will allow it to operate again,” Ahmadi said.
Head of station Najia Sorosh denied there was a breach, saying there was no need for the closure and called it a conspiracy. The Taliban “told us that you broadcast music. We did not broadcast any kind of music,” he said.
Sorosh said Thursday at 11:40 am representatives of the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Vice and Direction of virtue arrived at the station and closed. She said station staff contacted Vice and virtue but officials told us they have no additional information about the closure.
Many journalists lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The media closed due to lack of funds or because the staff left the country, according to the Association of Afghan Independent Journalists.
The Taliban barred women from most forms of employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university. There is no official ban on music. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban banned most television, radio and newspapers in the country.