Taliban Order Shop Owners To Cut Heads Off Mannequins, Video Of Men Sawing Off Figurines Goes Viral

The Taliban had attempted to project a more contemporary image as they returned to power last year. However, local reports in Afghanistan have not supported the Taliban’s claims.

New Delhi: In western Afghanistan, the Taliban have directed shop owners to cut the heads off mannequins, claiming that figures representing the human form violate Islamic law.

A video clip that shows men sawing the heads off figurines in Herat is being widely shared on social media, garnering criticism both inside and outside the country.

Even as the Taliban have not issued any formal national policy on mannequins, local authorities are reported to be clamping down on what they deem as immoral practices.

News agency AFP reported Aziz Rahman, head of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat, as confirming the order on Wednesday.

In a bid to get around the decapitation order, some shopkeepers covered mannequin heads with scarves or bags. However, as per Aziz Rahman, that did not go far enough.

“If they just cover the head or hide the entire mannequin, the angel of Allah will not enter their shop or house and bless them,” he said, as quoted by AFP.

Several shopkeepers in the city were angered by the order.

“As you can see, we have cut the heads off,” AFP quoted Basheer Ahmed, a garment seller, as saying. He informed that each dummy had cost 5,000 afghanis (around $50).

“When there is no mannequin how do you expect us to sell our products? The customer likes it when the garment is draped properly over a mannequin,” he added.

Women Facing Brunt Of Taliban-Imposed Restrictions

Since the Taliban’s return to power on August 15, 2021, Afghanistan has been witnessing the imposition of the regime’s harsh interpretation of Islamic law which includes severely curtailed freedoms - particularly when it comes to women and girls

The Taliban had attempted to project a more contemporary image, as compared to the harsh rule which characterised their rule from 1996 until 2001 - when besides other restrictions, artificial representation of human form was banned.

However, local reports have not supported the Taliban’s claim as they inform about orders directing people to attend prayers five times a day, for men to grow beards, and for Western clothing to be discouraged.

According to the AFP report, women particularly are facing the brunt as they are slowly being “squeezed out of public life”.

Most secondary schools for girls are reported to have been shut, women are restricted from government employment with exception of select specialised areas, and as per new guidelines last week, they cannot go on long journeys unless accompanied by a male relative.

The Taliban have also increased raids on liquor sellers, rounded up drug addicts and banned music, the AFP report mentioned.

(With Agency Inputs)