Afghan TV women are forced to comply with hijab requirements

– We resisted while we were against covering our faces, says Sonia Niazi, who works for Tolo TV.

– But Tolo News was blackmailed and it was announced that every TV presenter who does not cover her face in broadcasts will be transferred or will be forced to stop, she continues.

TV channel chief Khpulwak Sabai says they had no other choice.

– I received a phone call yesterday and he commanded her to be obeyed in stern terms. Therefore, it is not by choice but by compulsion that we do it.

According to the Taliban’s Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, all women “who are neither too old nor too young to cover their faces, except for the eyes”, should be there by early May. As of Saturday, the order also applies to women who work in television.

Despite this, Tolo channels, Shamsad and 1TV chose on Saturday to allow female employees to be in the box without covering their faces.

The ministry’s spokesman, Muhammad Akef Sadiq Muhajir, said the authorities had no plans to force TV anchors to stop working.

– We are glad that the TV channels took up their responsibility so well, he says.