Sometimes, I really do despair at the world. This week the Independent carried a story about a young Afghan Pashtun woman called Lima Sahar who has made it to the final of Afghanistan's 'Pop Idol'.
Predictably, this has enraged the country's conservative clerics who find the idea of a woman dancing and singing on television deeply disturbing. Ali Ahmad Jebra-Ali, a member of Afghanistan's cleric's council said:
"In the situation we have in Afghanistan right now, we don't need a woman singer. We don't need Afghan Star. We are in need of a good economy, good education. If Lima win Afghan Star, how can she help the poor? This is not the way to help the Afghan people."
Lima has also been accused by members of her own tribe of betraying her country's culture and leading good girls astray. What a load of rubbish!!!
I think it must be truly inspirational for the women of Afghanistan - particularly those from the Pashtun belt - to see one of their own competing as an equal with men on national television. I hate the idea that some cleric - an Afghan version of Simon Cowell - has the right to decide who wins a pop contest based simply on his own misogyny and misguided interpretation of the Qur'an and Sunna. Here's hoping that Lima wins!!!
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