Afghanistan: Taliban shuts women-run radio station for playing music during holy month of Ramzan

Kabul [Afghanistan], April 3 (ANI): In another repressive move, a women-run radio station in northeast Afghanistan has been shut down for playing music during the fasting month of Ramzan, Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

The radio station, Sadai Banowan was Afghanistan’s sole women-run station, broadcasting for ten years. Sadai Banowan translates to “women’s voice” in Dari. Six of the eight employees in the radio station were females.
Moezuddin Ahmadi, the provincial director for information and culture, said that the radio station repeatedly broke Islamic Emirate laws and regulations by playing music during Ramadan. As a result, the station was shut down.

Ahmadi said, “If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and guarantees that it will not repeat such a thing again, we will allow it to operate again,” reported Al Jazeera.

Najia Sorosh, the station’s manager, refuted the Taliban’s allegations that the radio station had broken laws and regulations by denying that there had been any infringement and by claiming that the closure was an elaborate plot.

The Taliban “told us that you have broadcast music. We have not broadcast any kind of music,” she said according to Al Jazeera.

Afghanistan is currently grappling with a serious humanitarian crisis as according to international assessments, the country now has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world.

Moreover, the situation of human rights in Afghanistan has worsened since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s return to power in August last year.

Although the fighting in the country has ended, serious human rights violations continue unabated, especially against women and minorities. Women and girls in Afghanistan are facing a human rights crisis, deprived of the fundamental rights to non-discrimination, education, work, public participation and health, reported Khaama Press.

Immediately following the Taliban takeover in August 2021, several journalists lost their jobs. Local Afghan journalists who defy the Taliban’s rules have been detained.

According to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, media organisations shut down due to a lack of funding or because their staff members left the nation.