There’s no place for women on Afgan TV, say angry Muslim clerics

BATTY Muslim clerics (what other kind are there?) this week found something new to rage against when a young woman – yes, a person of the FEMALE variety, gasp, horror – had the temerity to become a finalist in Afghanistan’s popular Aghan Star talent contest.

In a first for post-Taleban Afghanistan, Lima Sahar made it to the final three in the country’s version of Pop Idol.

Lima, from the conservative Pashtun belt, this weekend went up against two male contestants for a place in the final sing-off on Afghan Star, which has become one of the nation’s most popular television shows, but finished in third place.

As soon as it became known that Lima would be appearing in the final, the Afghanistan Clerics’ Council protested to the president, Hamid Karzai.

Said misery-guts Ali Ahmad Jebra-ali, a member of the council:

In the situation that we have in Afghanistan right now, we don’t need a woman singer. We don’t need Afghan Star. We are in need of a good economy, good education. If Lima Sahar wins Afghan Star, how can she help the poor? This is not the way to help the Afghan people.

Haji Baran Khan, a farmer from Kandahar – the Taleban’s spiritual birthplace and the city Lima now calls home – said a Pashtun girl singing on TV went against the country’s culture. Clearly yearning for a return of the ghastly Taleban, he said:

She is also affecting the minds of other good girls. She should stop singing. Under the Taleban regime that was overthrown in 2001, women were not even allowed out of their homes unaccompanied, while music and television were banned.

With her hair tucked under a headscarf, Lima brushes off her critics, saying there can be no progress for women without upsetting the status quo. “No pain, no gain,” she told reporters.

See the full report here.