No, You May Not Have the Next Dance
Afghan censors have just had it with local Emrose TV network and its daring contortions around the country's decency laws.
In a country formerly dominated by a Medieval tribe, the Taliban, which forces women to cover every inch of their bodies with the infamous burqa, images of ladies dancing and wearing short skirts still triggers rising tempests of dissent.
And the latest victim of a renewed wave of Puritanical fervor, incited by the latest resurgence of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, has been Fahim Khodamani, whose Enrose TV "salacious" images have cost him an arrest for "airing prohibited and hypocritical anti-Islam programs and immoral scenes and movies," as reported by the International Herald Tribune.
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The Afghan culture minister has warned that the Taliban use racy broadcasts like those on Emrose as a tool in their culture war, recruiting villagers who feel that the government is too influenced by Western morals.
Aggressive Afghan government attempts to censor TV programs could be part of a strategy to temper conflict with the Taliban. Or it could be an attempt to siphon support from Afghans drawn to the Taliban's conservative style of Islam.
Many Afghan TV stations cut or blur scenes with women showing more than their face or neck, taking a conservative stance to avoid violating a vague government law that prohibits media content not "within the framework of Islam."
The Emrose manager was arrested for refusing repeated requests to pixelate or otherwise obscure images of women dancing in short skirts or outfits with low necklines, said the deputy attorney general, Fazel Ahmad Faqiyar.
Khodamani will be arrested for at least 15 days until the inquiry into his activities is completed. Or as one of his shows would put it, until the bare truth comes to light.
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