KABUL, 16 January 2004 — In an embarrassing setback for moderates in Afghanistan’s US-backed government, authorities have reimposed a ban on women singing on state television just days after it was lifted.

The decision to restore the ban followed a protest from the Supreme Court, which is dominated by conservatives, officials said yesterday.

On Monday, Kabul Television featured old footage of Parasto, a well-known singer who now lives in the West, performing without a headscarf. Officials said the move was in line with a newly approved constitution giving equal rights to women.

But the Supreme Court wrote in protest to the Information and Culture Minister Sayed Makhdoom Raheen saying the decision to lift the ban was in defiance of its rulings. “We were told to stop airing the songs on Wednesday evening and we did so,” an official of Kabul TV said.

Raheen was seen as the key figure behind the lifting of the ban. “I have nothing to say about it now,” he said when asked about its reimposition. Deputy Chief Justice Fazl Ahmad Manawi said on Wednesday the Supreme Court was “opposed to women singing and dancing as a whole” and added: “This is totally against the decisions of the Supreme Court and it has to be stopped.”

The ban was justified, since the constitution stated clearly that no laws could be contrary to the religious beliefs, which did not allow for women singers, Mawani said yesterday.

“If the songs are aired, that means the Information Ministry would be the first organ of the government to violate the constitution.”

The ban had been in force for nearly 12 years since a government of mujahedeen replaced a communist regime in Kabul.

In 1996, the even more conservative Taleban replaced the mujahedeen and banned all television as part of its strict imposition of Shariah. The latest flip-flop is an embarrassment and a setback for moderates in President Hamid Karzai’s government in their battle with conservatives opposed to liberalization since the Taleban’s overthrow by US-led forces in 2001.

The initial removal of the ban came weeks after the replacement of the conservative head of Kabul Radio and Television.

Ghulam Hassan Hazrati succeeded Mohammad Isahaq, a key official in the Northern Alliance faction, which is mainly composed of Mujahedeen groups and forms the backbone of Karzai’s government.

Afghan Faction Starts MovingHeavy Arms From Kabul

The faction dominating the Afghan Defense Ministry began moving its heavy weapons from Kabul yesterday, more than two years after an international agreement requiring demilitarization of the city by armed militias.

Watched by NATO-led peacekeepers, militiamen moved more than 100 weapons, including multiple rocket launchers, anti-tank, anti-aircraft and field guns to a deserted former military base on the southern outskirts of the capital.

Army chief Gen. Bismillah Khan told a handover ceremony that hundreds more heavy weapons had been collected in Kabul and would be moved to the base for storage later.

The arms were brought to Kabul or captured by forces of the Northern Alliance, which helped US-led forces topple the Taleban regime in late 2001. Their withdrawal from the city follows repeated demands by NATO and US-led forces for the alliance to respect the terms of the 2001 Bonn agreement that brought Karzai to power after the fall of the Taleban.