Afghan private TV channel fined

The Afghan government has fined a private television station 1,000 US dollars for broadcasting un-Islamic material, including allegedly indecent clips from Bollywood movies, officials said on January 21. A committee within the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism that monitors private TV stations ruled last week against the Afghan TV channel, one of four privately-run stations launched after the fall of the hard-line Taleban regime in late 2001, said committee secretary Zia Wazir. He declined to give details of the offending material, saying merely, “They had broadcast material that was against Afghan culture and that was un-Islamic.” He added that the channel was fined 50,000 afghanis (1,000 dollars). Officials at Afghan TV declined to comment.