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The Taliban and the media
A country with no news or pictures
Reporters Without Borders
September 2000
Introduction
During the night of 26 September 1996, the Taliban militia entered the
Afghan capital of Kabul and took control of the city. One of their first
moves was to lock up the premises of national television and ban all TV
broadcasts. Four years after they took power, the Taliban and their allies
control more than 90% of the country. Their most recent military victories
mean they are likely to gain permanent control of the valleys held by the
opposition, particularly the Panjsher valley, currently held by Massud.
Law and order reigns in Kabul. Afghanistan is now known as the Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan and Sharia (Islamic law) has been brought into
force. The Taliban have introduced radical reforms, particularly
concerning the status of women. Press freedom, which was already
threadbare under the Taliban's predecessors, has totally disappeared. All
television broadcasts have stopped and the TV building is being used as a
barracks. The sole radio station, which covers the whole country, puts out
only religious programmes and official propaganda - even music has no
place on the Taliban's airwaves. The printed press - no more than ten
publications throughout Afghanistan - is under government control. Only
foreign media, working with the help of dozens of Afghan journalists
living in exile, are trying to supply impartial news to a population
manipulated by the "theology students".
The Taliban have shown no qualms about murdering Afghan journalists who
have fled to Pakistan. Many more have been threatened after writing
reports criticising the Taliban's domination of that country. These
relentless attacks on press freedom are underpinned by the religious
precepts taught in the madrasas, Pakistan's Quranic schools. The danger
that Pakistan, and particularly North-West Frontier Province, may also
come under the Taliban's influence is increasing as Pakistani religious
movements engage in a power struggle with the military government over
cable television.
The press is sacrificed
Newspapers have all but disappeared in Afghanistan. Since the fall of
King Zahir Shah in 1973 and the end of the "decade of
democracy", the press has been in the hands of the government. After
coming to power in 1978, the (communist) Democratic Party introduced a
media system based on the Soviet model. About 100 publications, all
dependent on state institutions, were scrupulously vetted by the security
ministry's "seventh committee", which was in charge of
censorship. When the Mujahideen took control in 1992, 90% of publications
disappeared, either because they were banned or because they had been
stripped of their material resources. The Taliban victory of 1996 marked
the start of a complete takeover of the press: journalists fled the
country by the dozen and new teams, made up of militiamen, "Pakistani
advisers" and former journalists, were brought in to replace them.
The Taliban arrested any journalists who had not managed to escape or go
into hiding. Khalil Rostaqi, an intellectual and journalist with the
newspaper Mayan, was arrested a week after the taking of Kabul and held
for six months. Around the same time Abdulhanan Rahimi, a national
television reporter, was arrested at his home. Accused of spying for
General Massud and compiling "reports hostile to the Taliban",
he was kept in a cellar for five months with three other people. Before he
was released, one of his captors warned him: "If you're arrested a
second time, you're as good as dead."
At the moment, fewer than ten publications appear regularly in
Afghanistan for 21 million inhabitants: the English-language weekly Kabul
Times, a showcase for the government abroad, the Pashto-language magazine
Nangarhar and the Farsi-language newspapers Hewad (Fatherland), Anis
(Companion) and Shariat. In the provinces, a few publications controlled
by the local authorities appear irregularly. Their content is meagre, with
no photos, illustrations, readers' letters or editorials. All the news
printed comes from ministries and the official news agency. Working
conditions for journalists are very harsh: they have to take orders from
the Taliban representatives assigned to editorial offices, and the state
pays little and irregularly. Most journalists earn about 12 euros per
month.
On the other hand, the dean of Kabul university insists that journalism
courses are still taught "according to the criteria of international
media and professional ethics". He claims that what goes on outside
the university does not concern him, and he refuses to comment on the
Taliban's attitude to press freedom. Needless to say, the university
admits only male students.
In July 2000 the Taliban launched The Islamic Emirate, an
English-language monthly published in Kandahar, to "counter the
biased information put out by the enemies of Islam". The first
issue's front page carried the headlines "No terrorist camps in
Afghanistan" and "Extraditing Osama ben Laden would be scorning
a pillar of our religion". The Taliban have also set up a web site,
afghan-ie.com, to push for recognition of their regime by the
international community - even though they have banned Afghans from having
internet access. In their government media, the Taliban frequently demand
Afghanistan's seat at the United Nations, which is still officially
occupied by the "government" of former president Borhannodin
Rabbani.
One Afghan journalist who recently returned to Kabul was categorical:
"There are no journalists left in Afghanistan today. They are working
as religious officials. They are formally forbidden to write
anything." Another journalist, living in exile in France, took a
similar view of those working for the country's only radio station, Radio
Sharia: They put out 12 hours of programmes per day with no journalistic
content whatever, and no songs. Sermons alternate with religious debates
and propaganda in which they insult Massud and the Americans."
A country with no pictures
It is forbidden on pain of death to take photographs of the Emir
of Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Foreign journalists who have been
covering Afghanistan since 1996 tell how nervous the militia are of still
and video cameras, which they call "the Devil's boxes". "If
we had had our cameras with us, they would have killed us", said
Salim Safi, a Pakistani journalist from the news agency News Network
International who was arrested in September 1999 along with another
reporter. After covering an opposition rally in the north of the country,
he had decided to give his video camera to an Afghan friend to take to
Peshawar. The Taliban accused the two men of entering Afghanistan
illegally and of "spying for the Iranians". Salim Safi told how
the militia had threatened him: "You're a well-known journalist. So
what? You'll be dead and no-one will know." The journalists were only
released five days later, after their employers appealed to the Afghan
foreign ministry.
Even more recently, on 11 August 2000, three foreign journalists were
arrested on the orders of the deputy minister for the maintenance of the
faith and the suppression of vice, who accused them of trying to take
pictures of a football match in Kabul. Pakistani Khawar Mehdi, who was
with American freelance photographer Jason Flario and Brazilian reporter
Pepe Scobar, said: "The religious police arrested us and interrogated
us for two hours. They confiscated the photographer's films, claiming we
had broken their law, which forbids taking photos of living
creatures." Khawar Mehdi went on to give his impressions of the
regime: "The Taliban have an increasing tendency to regard foreign
journalists as spies. They don't like us and they suspect us of the worst
intentions when we go to Afghanistan." Zaheer, an Afghan photographer
aged about 60, commented: "Photography is dead in Afghanistan."
Another photographer, based in Peshawar, admitted that he had not been to
Afghanistan since 1998. "It has become impossible for us to work and,
what's more, they tell us we have to grow beards", he said.
As for television, the Taliban do not seem ready to authorise the
broadcasting of programmes again. Abdul Hai Mutmaeen, minister of
information and culture for the eastern province of Kandahar, told a
foreign journalist in August 2000 that there was "no question of
lifting the ban on television". And yet, last July, during a seminar
organised by the ministry and devoted to "the role of the
media", certain officials hinted that TV broadcasts might resume. The
problem, according to the minister, is that "you can't control what
people watch". It is also noteworthy that since they arrived in
Kabul, the militia have systematically destroyed any broadcasting
equipment they came across, publicly burning films and videotapes and
smashing television sets, cameras, video cameras and hifi equipment.
Foreign press under control
Ever since the communists came to power, it has been very difficult to
find western newspapers in Kabul. On the other hand, publications from
neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan and Iran, found their way
onto the Afghan market when the Mujahideen were in charge. On 27 February
1997 the information and culture minister announced a ban on the sale of
books and magazines published abroad. Since then, Afghans have been
deprived of Pakistani newspapers such as the Frontier Post, The News
International and the Pashto-language Wahdat. More than 3,000 copies of
Wahdat crossed the border in the mid-1990s to be sold in Afghanistan's
major cities. The Taliban have put an end to sales of all newspapers
published in Pakistan and Iran. One circulation official for a Pakistani
daily said the militia kept a close watch on deliveries. "The driver
of the delivery van has been threatened on several occasions", he
said. "He is only authorised to take copies of the newspaper to
institutions approved by the Taliban." In practice, that means only a
few ministries, diplomatic representatives, foreign journalists and
international organisations are allowed to receive the newspapers.
"In any case, there are no newsstands left in the country's big
cities", the official added. Some Afghans still try to get hold of
foreign newspapers. Wahdat is said to be handed round secretly. A
Pakistani who recently returned home from Jalalabad said: "I have
seen students stuffing newspapers down their trousers so that they won't
be caught. They know they are taking a major risk." The only
newspaper authorised by the Kabul authorities is Zarbe Momin, an
Urdu-language weekly published in Karachi which supports the Taliban
cause. An Afghan journalist in Peshawar said the Kabul government took a
kindly view of the newspaper because it opposed "western propaganda
against the Taliban". Paradoxically, Afghan officials prefer to get
their news from the Pakistani press. "They have no choice: they can't
ban all the media", a Pakistani journalist commented wryly.
The Pashto-language daily Wahdat, published in Pakistan, did try to
maintain a correspondent in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, but Asadullah
Hisar Shahiwal was forced to resign under pressure from the authorities.
He was arrested several times because of reports published in Wahdat. The
daily still has a correspondent in Kabul, Danish Karukhel, but an
editorial executive based in Peshawar said he had very little room to manœuvre.
"His work as a journalist is restricted to interviewing Taliban
officials. One critical report would be too dangerous for him."
The Taliban frequently attempt to justify their ban on foreign media by
claiming that their reporting on Afghanistan is "subjective".
The Kandahar information and culture minister said that "the
Americans are against the Taliban" and "their media give a
distorted view of the situation".
Iranian journalists, and all those accused of "spying for
Tehran" are also targets for the Taliban. On 7 August 1998, Mahmud
Saremi, correspondent of the official Iranian news agency IRNA, and eight
Iranian diplomats were murdered by Taliban militia at the Iranian
consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, a city in the north of the country. Their
bodies are believed to have been left where they were killed for two days
before being thrown into a mass grave. On 11 September the Kabul
authorities confirmed the journalist's death. A crisis arose between the
two countries as a result of the incident. Media under Taliban control
violently condemned Iran and its "spies". All Tehran media were
banned in Afghanistan and foreign journalists were thereafter accused of
being Iranian spies.
Foreign journalists subject to draconian regulations
The Taliban have never hesitated to attack or threaten foreign
journalists. Scarcely a month after they entered Kabul, militiamen stopped
and beat up two Argentine journalists because they had tried to interview
women. In November of the same year Dorothée Olliéric, a reporter with
the French TV channel France 2, was prevented from working because she was
not wearing a veil. In all, more than 25 foreign journalists have been
arrested by militiamen since September 1996.
In August 2000 the authorities introduced strict regulations to cover
the work of foreign reporters and special correspondents. On arrival in
Kabul, they are given a list of "21 points to be respected". The
first is to give a true account of "what is really happening in
Afghanistan" and not to "offend the people's feelings".
Next comes a long litany of recommendations which might amount to no more
than bureaucratic harassment in other countries but which testify to the
Afghan authorities' distrust of the foreign press and their determination
to maintain strict control of reporters on Afghan soil. A document
published by the information and culture department states that foreign
journalists are not allowed to "go into private houses",
"interview an Afghan woman without the department's permission"
or "photograph or film people". Journalists are also supposed to
tell the department when they travel outside Kabul and to respect the
country's "no-go areas". The authorities also insist that
foreign correspondents work only with interpreters and other local
assistants who have been approved by the department, register all their
professional equipment with the relevant ministry and renew their work
permits every year. Finally, bureau chiefs representing international
media are obliged to attend government press conferences and to check that
only the name "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" appears in their
reports. No penalties for the infringement of these regulations are
specified in the documents issued by the authorities.
Some Pakistani journalists have condemned official control of the
interpreters assigned to foreign reporters. "Almost all of them are
affiliated to the government", a Peshawar journalist said.
"People are afraid to say anything in front of them because everybody
knows they will report back to the information and culture department.
I've heard interpreters tell a foreign journalist the exact opposite of
what the person being interviewed actually said." Another means of
keeping a close watch on foreign journalists: they are only allowed to
stay at Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel. They are banned from staying with
ordinary citizens. An Afghan family who took in a Pakistani journalist was
harassed by Taliban militia, said Jan Agha, an Afghan businessman living
in exile in Peshawar.
In Kabul, foreign press correspondents are few and far between. Only
the BBC and Agence France-Presse still have foreign correspondents living
in the capital, although the authorities recently gave permission for the
television channels CNN and Al-Jazeera to open offices. Kate Clark of BBC
radio and Amir Shah of the American news agency Associated Press have
often spoken about the pressure to which they are subjected. Kate Clark
said security was so tight that "we have to work discreetly and very
fast". She added: "We have to grab the news and run away for
fear of being victims of dirty tricks."
Some Pakistani reporters who are used to covering the Afghan conflict
have the greatest difficulty obtaining visas in Peshawar to go to
Afghanistan. Ilyas Khan, a reporter with the Pakistani monthly The Herald,
complained: "Western journalists obtain visas easily, whereas we, who
speak the Afghans' language, are prevented from entering their
country." He said this was a deliberate policy aimed at shielding the
rapid deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan from the world's gaze.
"A foreign journalist with an interpreter cannot fully grasp
developments and find the right information." Shamin Shahid, Peshawar
bureau chief of the daily The Nation, has had 20 visa applications refused
by the Afghan consulate since February 1999.
Journalists in exile threatened
After the Taliban took Kabul and Jalalabad, most journalists fled
either to parts of the country under opposition control or to Pakistan,
Iran or Tajikistan. Of the 15 editorial staff of Subh Omid (The Morning of
Hope), a fortnightly launched in March 1995, only two stayed in Kabul.
Latif Pedram, one of its founders, went into hiding when the Taliban
arrived for fear of being "beheaded". "Exile has become the
only way to survive when you're an Afghan journalist", he said. The
United Nations High Commission for Refugees has helped about ten
journalists to go to western countries from Peshawar. Dozens more have
reached a host country under their own steam. Afghans fleeing the Taliban
have met up with others who left the country to escape the communists or
the Mujahideen. Some have launched new media, while others are working for
the five international radio stations that broadcast programmes in Farsi.
Their broadcasts, and particularly those of the BBC, are extremely popular
in Afghanistan. Latif Pedram said: "The international stations are
the only mass media Afghanistan has ever known. They are both a lifeline
and a window opening up to the rest of the world."
These journalists are not out of danger just because they have left the
country. Two Afghan reporters have narrowly escaped murder attempts in
Pakistan since 1996. At least five others have been attacked or received
death threats. Investigations by the Pakistani police, which are often
slapdish, have provided no clues to the identity of the attackers.
On 2 October 1998 two men fired at Abdul Hafiz Hamid Azizi as he was on
his way home in Peshawar. A writer and regular columnist for the Afghan
dailies Sahaar and Wahdat, Hamid Azizi, who is of Tajik origin, had
received anonymous death threats. One of the letters warned him "not
to publish articles and not to write political analysis. Otherwise you or
your family will be punished by death, kidnapping or dishonour, as an
example to others". Three days later Najeeda Sara Bid, a reporter
with the BBC's Pashto-language service in Peshawar, escaped a murder
attempt near her home. Like Hamid Azizi, she had received anonymous death
threats. "They insulted me in the street and threatened me on the
phone or by email", she told Reporters Sans Frontières. A few weeks
before the murder attempt, a group of Afghans stopped her in the street.
Sara Bidi recalled their threats: "How long will you go on writing
and defending women's rights? Why don't you stay at home? Afghanistan has
an Islamic government and we will prevent you from working, even in
Pakistan." The journalist is sure that the Taliban are behind the
harassment. By way of evidence, she produced a threatening letter written
on Afghan interior ministry headed notepaper. A few months later Sara Bidi
went into exile in Europe.
On 2 November 1998 Mohammad Hashim Paktianae, a journalist with the
official press under communist rule and a cousin of former president
Najibullah, was murdered at his home in Hayatabad. No inquiry has come up
with any clues, but members of the journalist's family believe it was
connected with his work for the Afghan opposition.
In August 1998 Walliulah Saleem, head of the independent Afghan news
agency Sahaar, based in Peshawar, received death threats for which he
blamed the Taliban and went into hiding for four months. More recently, on
4 July 2000, Inayat-ul-Haq Yasini, a journalist with the daily Wahdat
living in Peshawar, received anonymous phone calls threatening him with
"the worst consequences". In its 26 June issue, Wahdat had
published the findings of an opinion poll of Afghan refugees living in
camps in north-west Pakistan. The caller also complained that the article
was too favourable to General Al-Maroof Shariati, who heads the National
Afghan Council for Peace, an opposition party working in exile.
According to Afghan journalists questioned by Reporters Sans
Frontières, the threats come both from the Taliban and from Pakistani
religious groups, and even from "Pakistani secret services working
hand in glove with the masters of Kabul". The journalists said they
had been summoned by Pakistani secret service officials who had asked them
to fax the service all articles prior to publication, and not to work for
Radio Tehran. One experienced Afghan reporter noted that several of his
colleagues avoided writing reports criticising the Taliban for fear of
being threatened or banned from entering the country.
The Kabul authorities are even thought to have drawn up a blacklist of
Afghan journalists regarded as "undesirable" - a way of
punishing them for writing "hostile" reports about the Taliban.
One such journalist, Jamal Kotwal, left his country in 1993 after working
for various media controlled by the communist regime. Now living in
Peshawar, he has worked for the Iranian government station Radio Tehran,
which has resulted in further attacks by the Taliban. "They have let
me know, indirectly, that it was dangerous for me to continue to work for
the official radio of a country that was threatening Afghanistan", he
said. "I resigned out of fear. Since then, I have stayed on the
blacklist of journalists who are against the Taliban." Jamal Kotwal
is now working as a correspondent for the international German station
Deutsch Welle.
According to one Afghan journalist, about 30 Afghan publications are
currently being produced abroad. Ten or so can be accessed on the
Internet. Published in Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Germany or the United
States, these newspapers are produced mainly by opposition groups. A few
dozen copies are smuggled into Afghanistan, where readers risk severe
penalties. In Pakistan the daily Wahdat, published in Pashto, has achieved
great popularity with the refugee population. Although its staff is
composed mainly of Afghan journalists in exile, it also has a few
reporters who support the Taliban. Janullah Hashimzada, for example, said
he travels to Afghanistan regularly and never has any problems with the
authorities. Describing himself as "pro-Taliban", the young
reporter claimed the international press made "unfair attacks on
Afghanistan".
A "talibanisation" of Pakistan?
"We shall not hesitate to use all the means at our disposal to
force the government to close down cable television channels in this
country", warned Ehsan-ul-Haq, one of the leaders of the Islami
Muttahida Inqilabi Mahaz movement, which groups 21 fundamentalist Moslem
organisations in Pakistan. In June 2000 the religious movements of this
country launched a campaign against cable television operators, which were
authorised by the federal government at the start of the year. To stir up
their supporters against "vulgar and obscene" TV programmes, the
religious leaders issued a fatwa calling on all Moslems to "rise up
against the Devil" represented by cable operators. In April 2000,
activists from the Islami Tehrike-e-Taliban group had destroyed
broadcasting equipment, particularly videotapes, at the Miranshah market,
just a few miles from the Afghan border.
The campaign began in North-West Frontier Province, where the Taliban
movement emerged. On 13 June 2000 a group of religious leaders called on
the district council in Hyatabad, south-west of Peshawar, to close down
six cable operators who had recently opened for business in the region. A
district official asked the Peshawar police superintendent to close the
operators. Zakria Khan, one of the investors targeted by the campaign,
took up the story: "On 13 June the police summoned me to appear in
Hayatabad police station. The police official told me that he had been
asked to wind up my company and confiscate my equipment, but he had no
written documents to back up his claims." After talking to his
lawyer, Zakria Khan decided to comply with the police official's ruling
for fear of having "big trouble" otherwise. He also told
Reporters Sans Frontières how young fundamentalist activists had cut
cables at night: "We managed to catch several of them, but the police
let them go straight away under pressure from the religious leaders."
On 21 June provincial governor Muhammad Shafique announced a ban on
cable television operators in the region during a demonstration in
Peshawar by several thousand religious campaigners. The next day, his
spokesman issued a retraction after the federal government reminded him
that a governor was not empowered to take such a decision. On 24 June
Zakria Khan and five other cable operators filed an appeal with the
Peshawar high court. The conflict with central government finally forced
the provincial governor to resign on 13 August.
The cable operators were given official permission to resume business
on 5 July, but the religious movements continued their protests,
publishing highly aggressive statements in the leading regional and
national newspapers. On 20 July one of the religious leaders said:
"The Peshawar high court's ruling is not in line with the
constitution and with Islam. We will prevent the operators from working by
force if the government does not do so by law." In response, the
federal government pointed out that the cable operators had valid licences,
and said it would not tolerate attacks on their companies.
The fundamentalist movements threatened to continue their campaign
against cinemas, and film magazines and posters. Yet the Pakistani mullahs
questioned by Reporters Sans Frontières retorted that the religious
movements had no intention of violating press freedom, because freedom of
speech was fully guaranteed by Islam. Maulana Hasan Jan, a former member
of the lower house of the Parliament for a fundamentalist party, told a
story to illustrate their point: "One day, Omar, the second caliph,
decided to lower a dowry. A woman protested, quoting a verse from the
Koran. The caliph immediately reversed his decision, in accordance with
the woman's criticism." For religious leaders, the caliph's attitude
shows how open Islam is to criticism.
The Pakistani religious movements have the power to impose some of
their points of view to the local authorities, alternating political
pressure, threats, demonstrations and acts of sabotage. The existence of a
varied press, a basic element in Pakistan's liberal Islam, has never been
publicly questioned by the religious leaders. But there are fears that
their pleas for stricter enforcement of Sharia law may result in
censorship.
Pakistan's religious political parties maintain close ties with the
Taliban movement. The parties, which have their roots in the religious
schools of north-west Pakistan, helped the Taliban during their rise to
power and are currently taking advantage of the success enjoyed by the
masters of Kabul. In return, they vaunt the advantages of the system in
force in Afghanistan, especially in their newsletters.
On several occasions, the Pakistani religious movements have urged
their supporters to attack journalists. In October 1996 members of Jamiat
Ulema-i-Islam (JUI, a fundamentalist party) raided the premises of the
daily Ummat and burned copies of the newspaper containing articles
criticising the Taliban. In December 1996, Fakhr Alam, correspondent of
the newspaper The Muslim in Peshawar, was the target of a murder attempt.
His attackers ransacked and then set fire to the daily offices. The Muslim
had published a cartoon of the JUI leader dancing with both Afghan and
Pakistani actresses. Fakhr Alam managed to identify one of the attackers
as a leader of the JUI student wing, who was later arrested. Under
pressure from the JUI, however, he was released after six days in custody.
No-one was sentenced by the Pakistani courts in connection with the
attempted murder. In September 1998 Saeed Iqbal Hashmi, correspondent of
the daily Mashriq in Peshawar, was sentenced to death in a fatwa issued by
religious leaders close to the JUI. The reporter decided to go into hiding
when JUI activists demonstrated outside the newspaper offices. On 17
December 1998 two armed men went to his parents' home to murder him.
"The religious leaders accused me of being Jewish and of belonging to
a Jewish lobby hostile to the Taliban's interests", he recalled.
"I've never seen a Jew in my life." In fact, the leaders were
angry about one of his reports, about some sexual abuse of young boys at
Koranic schools. As the Pakistani authorities were unable to ensure his
safety, Saeed Hashmi decided to go into exile in Europe in January 1999.
Pakistani editorial writers have expressed concern about the "talibanisation"
of the Peshawar region. Ismail Khan wrote recently in The News
International: "The idea of the talibanisation of North-West Frontier
Province may still seem a bit far-fetched, but reality is staring us in
the face. Should we close our eyes and behave like ostriches? The time has
come for us to take a firm stand." An editorial writer with the
Frontier Post added: "These self-proclaimed guardians of the nation's
morality ought to know that the population is not willing to accept their
spiritual guides."
Conclusion and recommendations
Afghanistan today is one of the countries where absolutely no press
freedom exists. The Taliban have extended and developed the policy of
their predecessors, both the communists and the mujahideen. They totally
control all means of communication and - like nowhere else in the world -
they have banned pictures. This attitude deprives the Afghan people,
scarred by more than 20 years of civil war, of seeing what their country
and the world outside look like. This phobia of representing humanity and
nature explains the Taliban militiamen's relentless attacks on foreign
journalists, cameramen and photographers seeking a visual record of a
country that seems to have been thrust back into the middle ages. It is to
be hoped that the Taliban's determination to be recognised by the United
Nations as the legitimate power in Afghanistan will force them to cancel
at least some of their restrictions on freedom of speech.
Reporters Sans Frontières calls on the leaders of the Taliban
movement:
- to recognise freedom of speech as a basic right of all Afghan people,
- to lift the ban on photographs and television, - to end the restrictions
imposed on foreign journalists working in Afghanistan.
Reporters Sans Frontières calls on the Pakistani government:
- to provide protection for Pakistani and Afghan journalists who
request it, - to ensure respect for Pakistani laws on the press throughout
the country, - to sign and ratify, as soon as possible, the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 19 of which guarantees
freedom of expression.
Reporters Sans Frontières calls on the international community:
- to make respect for freedom of speech a condition of recognising the
Taliban government, - to support initiatives from Afghan journalists
living in exile in favour of diversity of information, - to intervene with
representatives of the Taliban movement in order to guarantee the safety
of foreign journalists working in Afghanistan.
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