Female singers on TV provoke storm
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KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- For the first time in more than a decade, a female singer has appeared on television in Afghanistan.
But the appearance has provoked a controversy, despite the country's new constitution guaranteeing equal rights for women.
Former pop idol Salma was dressed very modestly by Western standards. And even though the four-minute video was old and the song already well known, the appearance has divided the nation.
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Some Afghanis welcome women singing on television while others say that Islam forbids such appearances and they want them banned.
The decision to run the video was made by the Ministry of Information and Culture. But despite the new constitution's protection of women's rights, Afghan conservatives, including the Supreme Court, have criticized the decision.
Fazel Ahmed Mahnawi, the Supreme Court Deputy Chief, says the Ministry of Information and Culture should avoid a repeat of the appearance of female singers on television.
But Azizullah Aryafar from Afghanistan Television and Radio says his organization is simply trying to be competitive in an age of satellite broadcasting and the Internet.
"We will damage our culture and traditional values if we don't show our viewers what they want," he says.
"If our viewers are not happy with our programs, they will shift to other channels and cable television."
Female singers were a common sight on Afghan television in the 1980s, when Soviet occupiers tried to drag tribal Afghanistan into the industrial age.
But Moscow's withdrawal in 1989 and the triumph of the Islamic fundamentalist Mujahadeen three years later put an end to female appearances on television.
The Taliban who captured Kabul in 1996 went even further, banning television altogether.
The country's president Hamid Karzai is now walking a tightrope between conservative and reform-minded elements over the televised appearance of female singers.
Karzai says the Ministry of Information and Culture makes the decisions on issues such as this.
But he noted that the Ministry should take into consideration Afghanistan's current cultural and social environment and do whatever is suited to that.
Several other female singers have appeared on Afghan television since Salma's first appearance. Whether they will continue to do is still not clear.
