The Celebrity Truth

Popstar Shakira has created controversy in Afghanistan after a national television network was reprimanded by the government and Senior Muslim clerics for broadcasting a concert by the Columbian singer.

According to London’s Telegraph newspaper, new legislation is about to be signed off by Afghani President Hamid Karzi that gives the government "greater powers to limit broadcasts that are deemed damaging to Afghanistan and its culture". The new laws would also allow the government to force television stations to carry more religious programs or face going off the air.

The concert was shown on Tolo TV with it’s owner, Saad Mohseni, explaining that the show "was not that provocative, and Shakira was pixellated (across her chest)."

However, a pro-government newspaper has claimed that the screening of the Shakira concert would provoke suicide bombers.

Mohseni, who grew up in Australia, believes his company is being targeted, saying, "The government is looking for an excuse to have a go at us. When we give air time to the Taliban we are ‘talking to terrorists’; when we air people criticizing the government, we are told we are ‘opposing peace and reconciliation’."

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Photo courtesy of SonyBMG.

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