GHAZNI CITY (SW): The head of Ghazni’s media and journalists union has said the Taliban have been pressuring local media in Ghazni for more than three months in order to extort money from them.
The media officials said that the Taliban by sending a warning letter to the authorities of the local media in Ghazni have been demanding ransom.
Mohammad Arif Noori, the head of provincial media and journalists union, talking to Salam Watandar said that the Taliban demanded the media in Ghazni to send their annual income report to the group so the Taliban can determine the amount of ransom each media outlet should pay.
According to him, local media officials have met and talked with the Taliban's cultural officials many times to solve the problem, but so far no results have been achieved.
Ghazni local media officials also agree that the Taliban have asked them to pay the ransom, but because of security problems, they do not wish to give more details.
Bashir Mohammadi, director of Ghazni's information and culture, also said that the provincial information and culture directorate has been informed verbally by the media, but because of lack of cooperation from the media, the directorate could not provide security measures with the security agencies to the local media. According to him, the situation of media and cultural entities in Ghazni is concerning.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid also confirmed in a statement to Salam Watandar that they had received a large amount of money in the past year from a number of local media in Ghazni.
But, Mustafa Mayar, the provincial police chief, has said that he is not aware of the issue. According to him, security forces are ready to provide security to the media and the residents of Ghazni.
Jamil Waqar, head of the journalist safety committee in Ghazni, said that the local media outlets in the province are not able to pay taxes to the government, and the extortion will result in the closing of the media outlets. According to him, the Taliban have also imposed restrictions on the media outlets in Ghazni, although they have agreed with the government on reducing taxes and to provide security to the media, so far no practical steps have been taken in this regard.
Previously the Taliban extorted only from the revenues of local traders, shops, and farmers.
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