The Taliban Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Sheberghan recently ordered roadside computer workers to fill their customers’ phone memory with Islamic verses and hymns instead of music, Zan Times has learned. The Taliban has warned that violators will be persecuted.
Mawlawi Saifuddin Motasim, the head of the culture directorate of the ministry in Jawzjan province, and an entourage of officials visited the city market to relay the new orders to the computer workers, who often sit at desks at street corners selling music downloads to phones or other memory devices. According to Motasim, their efforts are aimed at preventing negative propaganda aimed at the Taliban and blocking the dissemination of “deviant” non-Islamic videos and images.
According to him, “the young people who are working with computers in the markets and [street] corners of the city, should fill people’s phone memory with Islamic topics and Islamic chants instead of music, otherwise they will face legal action.”
Jawid, a 22-year-old computer worker in Sheberghan city, says that Taliban intelligence and the vice and virtue ministry have been intruding into their work for a while but recently have stepped up their efforts.
“I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology, but because I don’t have a job in my field of expertise, I inevitably end up working day-to-day solving people’s computer problems,” he tells Zan Times. “Now, with this order, the Taliban are trying to shut down this venue of work for us.”
This is the latest in a series of edicts issued by the Taliban to force their harsh brand of Islam on the entire population. Earlier, the Taliban directorate of vice and virtue in Badghis banned music in the restaurants. And recently, the Taliban banned flavoured hookah and music in Kandahar, explaining in a notice, “Dear brothers, listening to music is a great sin and forbidden, and smoking flavoured hookah is harmful to the body. The directorate of vice and virtue seriously warns you to avoid listening to music and smoking hookah.”
