Clothing shops in Afghanistan’s western Herat fiefdom have begun removing the heads of display mannequins, in line with new directives given by the original office of the Taliban’s ministry for Islamic guidance.
Obeidullah Yari, a original business community leader, told VOA on Monday that about 20 of the shops in the parochial capital, also named Herat, have formerly enforced the order to escape discipline.
The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention Vice, which is responsible for administering the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam, ordered last week that shop mannequins should have their heads removed for being obnoxious to Islam, advising that violators would be penalized.
City boardwalk possessors and garment merchandisers originally blamed the Taliban directive, telling Afghan media that mannequins were also used to display clothes in other Islamic counties. But Yari said shopkeepers were now removing the heads of the dummies.
Aziz Rahman, the parochial head of the ministry, told original media he ordered shopkeepers to hack the heads off their mannequins because “ they are icons.” He went on to explain that Islam prohibits deification, or the idolization of icons.
Taliban authorities reportedly have also increased monitoring of public hacks in the capital, Kabul, to see if motorists are abiding by the ministry’s instructions related to women’s right to travel.
The decree requires motorists to carry only those womanish passengers who wear a headscarf or Islamic hijab and are accompanied by a manly relative if they travel further than 72 kilometers. It also instructs cabdrivers to grow beards, stop their vehicles at prayer times and stop playing music while driving.
The ministry reportedly has also banned Afghan women from driving. It has also ordered original channels to stop showing dramatizations and cleaner operas featuring actresses, and womanish news anchors to wear hijabs while on the air.
Taliban principal spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, in a recent interview to Afghan state TV, defended the way taken by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention Vice, saying they shouldn’t be a matter of concern for anyone because “ Afghanistan is Muslim nation and no bone is opposed to Islamic laws in the country.”
