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KABUL: A group of four unidentified gunmen attacked and vandalized a wedding house during a ceremony in Kalkan district of northern Kabul province, breaking the instruments of local singers and warning them not to sing anymore.
Abdul Ghafoor Popalzai, Kalkan district governor of Kabul province, said the incident took place around midnight on Monday in the village of Pa’in Bagh in the district.
He said the perpetrators had not yet been identified because they had covered their faces while attending the wedding. According to him, investigations into the incident have begun.
Some posted pictures of the incident on social media, claiming that the perpetrators were members of the Taliban.
Kalkan district governor added that the Taliban group does not have an active presence in the district, but they disrupt law and order from time to time. He stressed that the Taliban were only present in the restive Qarabagh district of Kabul, and that the village of Pa’in Bagh was located in its vicinity. “It is likely that this was done by Taliban affiliates,” he said.
The Taliban has not yet commented.
During their rule, the Taliban broke musical instruments and no one was allowed to play music. Singers were only allowed to sing without instruments and to sing patriotic and pro-Taliban songs.
Many music artists left Afghanistan for that reason, and those who remained either did not work or played music in secret.
Pictures of the incident on social media show that some of the artists’ musical instruments, as well as their cameras and video cameras, were broken.
Kalkan district governor said the singers and musicians who were present at the event were invited and it was decided that the owner of the event would pay for the destroyed equipment.
Earlier, the Taliban had detained a number of local musicians and artists in Helmand province and punished them by shaving their hair.
