The local Radio and TV station, Hamisha Bahar resumes operations in eastern Nangarhar province after it was closed down by Taliban authorities weeks ago for training women.
Atal Stanikzai, Hamisha Bahar’s Broadcasting Manager, told Afghanistan Journalist Center that the Taliban authorities allowed the Radio and TV network to reopen on Sunday.
Hamisha Bahar was closed down on August 1 when a group of 10 to 15 Taliban police forcibly entered its office in Jalalabad city, accusing the outlet of breaking the group’s ban on women.
The media outlet was temporarily shut down due to violating media principles, Siddiqullah Quraishi, Taliban’s provincial head of Information and Culture said, referring to a mixed-gender journalism training held by Hamisha Bahar.
Taliban views such programs involving women as “un-Islamic” amidst the countrywide ban on women’s education and employment.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemned the closure of Hamisha Bahar by the Taliban authorities, saying it is “appalling” to witness a media outlet shut down because of training women in a journalism course.
CPJ stated that denying women of their rights has become the “hallmark of the Taliban regime.”
Two years after assuming power, the Taliban has severely clamped down on media and press freedom, among other things, through censorship, arrests, assaults, and extreme restrictions on women journalists.
