Kabul: A women-run radio station in Afghanistan has resumed its broadcast after Taliban officials shut it down for a week for playing music during Ramazan, a Taliban official and the head of the station said on Friday.
Sadai Banowan, which means “women’s voice” in Dari, was launched ten years ago in Badakhshan province and is Afghanistan’s only female-run radio station. Six of its eight staff members are females.
The director for Information and Culture in Badakhshan, Moezuddin Ahmadi, said the radio station was allowed to resume activities on Thursday after it had followed the “laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” and agreed to stop broadcasting any music.
Radio Station head’s stance
Radio Station head Najia Sorosh said that after the radio station “gave a commitment to officials at the information and culture department, they unlocked the radio station door and started broadcasting again.”
The Afghan Journalist Safety Committee, the Afghan watchdog organisation that promotes the safety of journalists and press freedom, was involved in mediation for the radio station’s reopening, and welcomed the resumption of broadcasts.
It said, “Following AJSC’s advocacy efforts, Sadai Banowan radio resumed its broadcasts.”
Representatives from the Information Ministry and the Vice and Virtue Directorate had shut down the radio station a week earlier.
Several journalists lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover in 2021. According to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, media outlets closed over a lack of funds or because staff left the country.
The Taliban have barred females from most forms of employment and education beyond the sixth grade, including university. There is no official restriction on music. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban barred most television, radio, and newspapers in the country.
