KANDAHAR (SW) – Authorities in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, have ordered its officials on Sunday not to take pictures or videos of “living things”.
In a letter addressed to civil and military officials, the provincial department of interior directed them “to refrain from taking pictures of living things in your formal and informal gatherings, because it causes more harm than good”.
It said text or audio content on officials’ activities are allowed.
A spokesperson for Kandahar’s governor told Salam Watandar the letter was authentic and that it is instructions only applied to provincial officials, not the ordinary people.
Mahmood Ezam, the spokesperson of the governor of Kandahar province, said: “It is not related to the general public and independent media.”
Meanwhile, the officials of the Afghan Independent Journalists’ Union (AIJU) have voiced concern over imposing restrictions on taking pictures and videos of living things. They say that it slows down the journalistic process in Kandahar.
“The ban on photographing living things in Kandahar causes problems for the media in the future, and the challenges that currently exist are that there is no policy and the government must approve the public media law for access to information,” the head of the AIJU, Hafizullah Barekzai said.
However, earlier, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the de-facto government, told Salam Watandar that the law on mass media will soon be approved by the leadership of the Islamic Emirate.
