 Radical Afghan clerics Tuesday unveiled plans to launch the country's first Islamic television channel since the fall of the fundamentalist Taliban regime more than three years ago. A group of hard-line religious scholars, or mullahs, based in the capital Kabul said the station would counter what they say are immoral and un-Islamic programs being broadcast by other channels. "We plan to launch our own TV channel and through this channel we will broadcast Islamic programs," said Qyamuddin Kashaf, a spokesman for the Ulema Council, the group behind the plans.
| "Yes! We can well compete with MTV and jiggling Indian bosoms by putting ourselves on the teevee to drone the Koran over and over! How can we lose?" |
| Watch their turbans unwind when they find out that television is unIslamic. I have a fatwa that says so right here. |
Afghanistan has witnessed a rapid growth in television stations since the fall of the hard-line Taliban in late 2001, which banned all cinemas and television during its 1994-96 rule. The Taliban itself last month launched a pirate radio station operating from a secret mobile transmitter which broadcasts religious material as well as invective against the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. The clerics, who are not linked to the ousted regime, have not yet chosen the TV channel's name but they said it would start transmitting in the near future.
In addition to state-run TV, four television channels run by local warlords and private companies are operating in Afghanistan, and there are also several cable providers. Most private stations run Western music videos and movies and have come under criticism from conservatives who call the programs un-Islamic. |