Valentine's Day 'not Islamic...a sloganeering day of infidels': Taliban ban celebrations

Kabul: Taliban’s morality police banned Valentine’s Day celebrations across Afghanistan, leaving florists with wilting bouquets of red roses and street vendors heartbroken in the Afghan capital on Tuesday. According to reports, last year too people celebrated a low-key Valentine’s Day across the country. That was the first time since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. Valentine’s Day is ’not Islamic’ “Whilst the rest of the world celebrates love today, #ValentinesDay has been BANNED by the Taliban. The Taliban’s morality police are patrolling streets & have put up their posters at every shop. Heartbreaking to see how dark life has become for the people of Afghanistan,” former Policy Advisor to Minister for Afghan Resettlement & Minister for Refugees Shabnam Nasimi tweeted. Although Valentine’s Day has never been generally observed in Afghanistan, some affluent city dwellers have started a practise in recent years to commemorate the holiday. In the Flower Street in Afghanistan’s Kabul, shops were full of heart-shaped garlands and red stuffed animals, but hopelessly empty of customers, news agency AFP reported. Not just that, a poster – signed off by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice – on the window of one outlet warned shoppers, “Avoid celebrating lovers’ day!” It further stated that Valentine’s Day “is not Islamic and is not part of the Afghan culture but a sloganeering day of the infidels”. “Celebrating the day of lovers is showing sympathy to the Christian Pope,” the poster read. Police Patrolling As per the AFP report, officers from the ministry patrolled the area in their white uniforms, trailed by an armed escort. “(The Taliban authorities) published and distributed their order to every shop… I don’t think I could sell these flowers today, people aren’t buying… You can see we have no customers – the situation is very bad,” a local said. Another local added, “The situation has changed – we can’t celebrate it like other years… But we do celebrate it. There are some restrictions and the situation is not good, but we celebrate it at home.” Not just this time, last year too Taliban officials marched through the flower-decorated streets in Kabul on February 14. However, they did not stop Valentine’s Day sales last year, according to reports. Last year, they directed the shopkeepers to keep it low-key and told some of them to avoid giving interviews. Taliban takeover Since taking control of the government in August 2021, the Taliban authorities have imposed a number of limitations on social life in the nation. Music, social media apps and video games have all come under scrutiny by the ultra-conservative government. The authorities have particularly cracked down on Afghan women, effectively squeezing them out of public life. (With inputs from AFP) Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.