GagWatch

Against a background of suicide bombers in the capital, spiralling opium production and half the country prey to Taleban guerrillas, Afghanistan’s spiritual guardians are campaingning to… ban Indian soap operas (via). And what’s worrying is that the Islamic Council of Scholars have managed to gain the backing of the Minister of Information and Culture, who has written to television executives to threaten prosecution if they show footage that offends morality. He is particularly concerned about Indian soaps.

His announcement came after dozens of clerics met President Karzai a week ago to demand a ban on shows that they claim are “spreading immorality and un-Islamic culture”. The dramas have won thousands of devotees in Afghanistan who enjoy the escapist world of the fictional Bombay rich. Anywhere else, the family dramas with wooden acting and creaking sets would be thought tame. They have, however, offended the country’s new moral enforcers, who fear that the soaps will fuel a craze of “stone worship”, or veneration of Hindu idols.

The enforcers are also urging the Government to take action to get a young generation of rappers and pop stars off air. The old men accuse the musicians of polluting the nation’s moral standards and they have chastised Afghans who watch television when they could go to the mosque.

Before trying to turn back the clock on Kabul’s media, the scholars’ main campaign was to bring back public executions, last seen in the capital when the Taleban were in control. The battle to censor television also harks back to the the days of Taleban rule when entertainment was banned and Kabulis risked jail to watch smuggled videos in the secrecy of their own homes.

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