Taliban now bans display of female mannequin heads in shops and music in cars

The Taliban has come up with new decision and directed all shopowners to not display the heads of female mannequins. An official in the Directorate of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in western Herat province in Afghanistan said posing and looking at the face of such mannequins is against the Islamic Sharia law and hence the heads of all such mannequins should be cut off.

The instruction comes a day after the group in Kabul issued guidance advising taxi drivers not to offer drive to unveiled women without close male relatives.

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India TV reported that a number of shopkeepers in Herat raised concerns against the instructions and said that the Taliban are making their life more difficult with each passing day.

The shopkeepers said that they had bought each mannequin for $100-$200 and now they have to cut their heads off.

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In further move restricting women’s freedom in Afghanistan, the Taliban have said that women seeking to travel more than 72 km should not be offered transport unless they are accompanied by a close male relative.

An advisory distributed by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice also directed all vehicle drivers to refrain from playing music in their cars, and not to pick up female passengers who do not wear an Islamic hijab covering their hair.

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Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq Akif confirmed the authenticity of the advisory on December 26.

A taxi driver in Kabul, who did not want to be named, said that for some time now armed Taliban men have been urging taxi drivers not to play music in their cars or take women without a hijab.