KANDAHAR/ MAZAR-E-SHARIF (SW) – A number of local media professionals in the provinces have expressed concern that with the advent of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, restrictions on local journalists and media work have increased.
Aghashir Minar, head of Radio Saanga in Kandahar province, told Salam Watandar that the Islamic Emirate authorities did not cooperate with reporters to cover the news and that they had been waiting for weeks for officials’ interviews. He added that they are forced to have a clearance by the province’s Information and Culture Department for any report.
A number of media outlets have also spoken out about the restrictions on female journalists in the local media.
A female journalist in Balkh, who did not want to be named, said that due to restrictions on female reporters in Balkh, no female reporter in the province worked as a reporter except for only one field reporter.
“We do not have any female reporters in Balkh, I am the only female reporter in Balkh. This is really a big problem. In Balkh, we once had 100 to 150 female journalists and media workers.”
The head of a radio station in Bamyan province also said that the restrictions had prevented women from participating in the province’s media.
On the other hand, Mansour Rasekh, the head of a radio station in Sar-e-Pul province, said that the officials of the Islamic Emirate in the province had banned them from playing music. He added that female journalists in the province continue to work by observing the ‘hijab’.
Meanwhile, Abdul Basir Haqjoo, head of a local radio station in Badakhshan, has a different account. Haqjoo added that the Islamic Emirate officials has not imposed any restrictions on female journalists in the province with a condition of observing the hijab.
Commenting on this, Masrour Lutfi, a member of the federation of journalists, sees the restrictions on local journalists as a grim reality. According to him, in most cases, the officials of the Islamic Emirate treat journalists and the media representatives at the local level with double standards. He attributes it to lack of a proper legal system.
It should be noted that Human Rights Watch recently reported on the situation of local media in Afghanistan stating that the Islamic Emirate has severely restricted local media in the provinces and most women are not allowed to work.
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