Kabul, Apr. 16 : The Afghan Parliament is to take up new legislation banning the wearing of make up by women, men and women talking to each other in public, men wering T-shirts and sporting long hair, use of loud speakers, pigeon flying, animal fights.

The news makes the old timers to shudder as it reminds them of the six years of Taliban rule when strict Islamic laws were enforced and those not following were whipped publically.

Already the clerics have succeeded in coercing the liberal Karzai Government int banning the Indian soap operas on private TV channels.

T he new law seeks to include a ban on girls wearing make-up in the work place, on men “dressing like girls”, a ban on loud-speakers in public places, on people playing with pigeons, and on men and women speaking to each other in the street. Even vehicles travelling into the country are proposed to be searched for material considered offensive to Islam.

Defying these regulations would attract heavy fines

The legislation would ban:

• Men from wearing bracelets, designer jeans, necklaces, earrings and T-shirts • Men from growing their hair long, “like a girl’s” • Men and women from talking with each other in public, unless they are related • Loud music and loud speakers at weddings and restaurants • Betting in snooker clubs • Shops selling “revealing” clothing • TVs, radios and cable companies from airing programmes that are 'anti-Islamic' and detrimental to the young • People from selling, keeping or importing DVDs or photos of naked or semi-naked women • People from swearing at children or women in public. • Pigeon flying, animal fighting and playing with birds on rooftops

Girls would also have to start wearing the Hejab “properly” by covering all of their hair with the shawl.

The Commission for Anti-social Behaviour and Counter-narcotics has concieved the new law which would be enforced by police.

A repeat offence for pigeon-flying would attract a fine of Afg1,000, while media companies could be fined as much as Afg5,000 for airing anti-Islamic images.

Restaurants caught hosting weddings where men and women mix in the same room could be fined up to Afg10,000.

Anyone who starts a bird fight, a traditional sport in Afghanistan, would be fined up to Afg1,000.

Some of the MPs are apperehensive about the law dragging Afganistan into the black ages of the dreaded Taliban who are otherwise also knocking at the door of Kabul. (ANI)