A women-run radio station in Afghanistan has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said on Saturday.
The radio station is named Sada-e-Banowan, which means women’s voice in Dari Persian, and it is Afghanistan’s only women-run station located in Faizabad, in Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan. Officials from the Taliban’s Directorate of Information and Culture and Directorate of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrived at the station on 30 March and shuttered it.
The officials accused the radio station of illegally airing music during the holy month of Ramzan. Moezuddin Ahmadi, the director for Information and Culture in Badakhshan province, said the station violated the “laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” several times by broadcasting songs and music during Ramzan and was shuttered because of the breach.
“If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing again, we will allow it to operate again,” Ahmadi added.
However, the radio station has denied any violation of Taliban rules, saying that the allegations are false. “We have not broadcast any kind of music,” Station head Najia Sorosh said. She alleged that it was a conspiracy against the station for the station’s programs focusing on women’s education and job opportunities in Badakhshan.
Najia Sorosh said that the officials from the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Vice and Virtue Directorate arrived at the station at 11:40 a.m. on Thursday and shut it down. She added that the ministry has not provided any further information regarding the closure.
Radio Sada e Banowan was established in 2014 and it is owned by Afghan female journalist Najla Shirzad. Local Taliban officials allowed the radio station to restart operations after taking over power in the country. The station has eight employees, and six of them are women.