Posted on 01/13/2004 8:23:21 AM PST by blam
First woman sings on Afghan TV in 10 years
January 13 2004 at 09:09AM
By Herve Bar
Kabul - For the first time in a decade, Afghan public television has broadcast images of a woman singing, giving Kabul's prime time audience a rare chance to watch a former star croon a romantic ballad.
On Monday evening, the national station showed images of Salma, a star in Afghanistan during the 1970s and 80s, singing one of her most popular hits.
She appeared on the screen dressed in a sober red and white blouse with a simple veil over her hair.
Although Salma was shown singing only one song for about five minutes, it was broadcast at a time when the largest number of Kabulis were in front of their televisions.
It is the first time since the fall of the communist regime of president Najibullah in 1992 that Afghan public television has shown such images.
During the 1992 to 1996 civil war of the radical Islamic mujahedin fighters, images of women were no longer shown.
Under the even more hardline Taliban regime which came to power in 1996, women were unable to work, girls were banned from schools and television was forbidden from showing images of women.
Under the moderate government of President Hamid Karzai women have made their way back to the small screen but Monday night was the first time a woman was shown singing on television.
Since 2002, women have presented news shows but that marked the limit of their screen presence.
At least two other music clips featuring women were also shown on Monday night, of which one was a religious song in Urdu to mark the visit to Kabul by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Zafarullah Jamali.
The situation of women in Afghanistan, one of the world's most conservative Islamic societies, has improved gradually since the fall of the Taliban just over two years ago.
But the majority of Afghan women, particularly those in rural areas, still live under the head-to-toe all-enshrouding burqa and remain confined to their homes.
In Kabul, the most progressive part of Afghanistan, many women have found employment and are free to walk around wearing a veil or simple headscarf rather than the full burqa.
On January 4, a traditional loya jirga or grand assembly adopted a new constitution which recognises the equal rights of men and women. - Sapa-AFP
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