Having Fun in Afghanistan

[Guest guest]

----

----------

Now can someone tell me how can photography and dancing be

unislamic ? In particular, I am curious to read the passages in the

Koran that makes these barbarian fools believe so.

Wanted: the noted islamic scholar, Ali Asjid to make some

clarifications, lest my phobias become real!!

 

 

Have fun in Afghanistan? Enjoy the weather...

By Siddharth Varadarajan

 

The Times of India News Service

 

KANDAHAR: In any major Afghan town, you can be sure to find three

kinds of shops on every street: a pharmacy, a stationery store and a

photo studio. In a country that has been through 20 years of war, it

makes sense to have lots of pharmacies. As for stationery, girls and

women may not be allowed to study but there are clearly enough males

out there buying notebooks and pens. But in a country where

photography is banned - except when official documents require a

picture protrait - why on earth does one require so many photo

studios?

 

The Taliban may have decreed that photography is un-Islamic but old

habits die hard. "People still take photographs of their family,

especially during weddings," said the owner of one photo studio

here. "Officially, our shop is only meant to take passport-size

photographs for official documents," he said. "But selling films is

our main business". Processing films can be more problematic, and

risky. In Kabul, one studio keeps its customers' prints under a

couch. Here in the south, people send their snapshots across the

border to Quetta for developing.

 

Though having fun -- or just living what the average Afghan considers

to be a normal life -- can entail serious risks, people here have not

abandoned their love for music and films, especially from Bollywood.

During the 6-hour journey from Torkham to Kabul, my taxi driver

played a tape of Raja Hindustani 10 times. Taking more than a couple

of cassettes on the highway is risky since they have to be secreted

away in some hidden crevice of the car each time a checkpost of the

Vice and Virtue police draws near. At one place, our taxi was given a

thorough inspection and the driver frisked. Had the offending tape

been found, he would have been lokced up for five days. As mere co-

conspirators, we passengers would have gotten off lighter -- Vice and

Virtue would only have shaved our heads.

 

I asked Qudratullah Jamal, the Taliban's culture minister, what

people could do for fun and entertainment in a country where music,

cinema, TV, photography, dancing, painting and flying kites are all

illegal? "Why", he said, clearly surprised by my ignorance, "there

are many, many things to do for entertainment. People can enjoy the

weather in Afghanistan. The climate here is very different. When you

compare it with other countries, it is much better". As an

afterthought, he added: "We allow sports. There is football,

volleyball and horse-riding for boys".

 

And what about the girls, I asked. "We have approved a budget to

build parks for entertainment for boys", he replied. And for

girls? "The Islamic circle is not limited. It has given rights to

everyone, to boys." And the girls, I persist. "Isn't it healthy that

they should also have some entertainment and sports?" Qudratullah was

losing his patience by now. "If we are to ask Afghan women, their

problems have been solved. You cannot compare Afghanistan to other

countries. The women of Afghanistan reject those things which are

against Islam. It is the demand of Islam that women should live their

lives according to the principles of Islam".

 

Abdul Hai Mutmaeen, spokesman of Mullah Mohammad Omar, was prepared

to be more liberal. "Anything which does not affect the moral

character of women is allowed by us," he declared grandly. Asked to

give examples of what was permitted, he said: "During weddings, women

can play the dayra (a small round drum). But we don't allow the dhol

as this is immoral and against Islam".

 

I told Mutmaeen that I had heard Hindi films are very popular and

that Afghan women seem to like Shahrukh Khan a lot. (A foreign aid

worker who attended a wedding in Kabul recently had told me she was

impressed with the way the girls danced "just in Hindi movies", but I

decided not to bring this up). "During the communist days, these

Indian movies were shown here. Today nobody wants to see them." But

even young people seem to know about the latest releases, I said.

Surely they must still be watching. "No", said Mutmaeen. "The Rabbani

government had also shown these movies before 1996. They must

remember things from those days. But don't worry. We are in the

process of repairing peoples' consciousness".

 

At the end of interview, I asked Mutmaeen whether he had ever seen a

Hindi movie during the long years he spent in exile in

Pakistan. "Certainly not", he said. "I was busy studying in different

madrassas.There was no time for such things."