アフガン国立音楽院生徒ら１０１人、国外脱出

【シドニーＡＦＰ＝時事】アフガニスタン国立音楽院の生徒や教師１０１人が３日、同国で実権を握ったイスラム主義組織タリバンによる音楽への弾圧を恐れ、海外へ脱出した。同院の創設者で院長のアフマド・サルマスト氏がＡＦＰに明らかにした。（写真はアフガニスタン国立音楽院のアフマド・サルマスト院長。豪メルボルンにて）
　現在オーストラリア・メルボルン在住のサルマスト氏によると、生徒らは同日夜カタールの首都ドーハに到着した。この後、ポルトガル政府の支援を受け同国へ向かうという。
　一行の約半数が女性や少女で、女性だけの交響楽団「ゾラ」の楽団員も含まれている。
　アフガニスタンの首都カブールでは、カタール大使館の協力を得て少人数に分かれて空港まで移動した。最初の難関は、空港を占拠するタリバン戦闘員がビザ（査証）を疑ったことだったが、カタール大使館職員が間に入ってくれた。その後、臨時公用旅券では女性は出国できないと言われたが、再び大使館員が交渉してくれた。
　飛行機がついに離陸すると感極まったとサルマスト氏は話す。「涙が止まらなかった。泣き続けていた。家族も一緒に泣いていた。人生で最も幸せな瞬間だった」
　タリバンがアフガニスタンを統治していた１９９６年から２００１年まで、歌や踊りを含めあらゆる娯楽が禁止されていた。
　今回の統治は２０年前より穏健なものになるとタリバンは約束している。一方で、自分たちが解釈したシャリア（イスラム法）の枠内で国家を運営していく考えを示している。
　だが、音楽に対する姿勢は一貫しておらず、明確な命令は発せられていない。
　例えばカブール郊外で週末行われたタリバンの集会では、閣僚や幹部の演説前に宗教音楽が流された。
　サルマスト氏によると、タリバンは音楽院関係者に対し追って通知があるまで自宅待機するよう命じたが、２か月近くが過ぎても通知はこなかった。
　サルマスト氏はカブールからの脱出は第１段階にすぎないと語った。卒業生や退職者を含めアフガニスタン国内に残っている音楽院関係者１８４人全員が避難し、脱出組と再会するまで手を尽くすと誓っている。
　先月ＡＦＰが音楽院の校舎を訪れた際には、音楽は聞こえてこなかった。ト音記号が描かれた木がある中庭では、カラシニコフ銃を抱えたタリバン戦闘員が雑談をしていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/10/07-13:22）

More than 100 music students and teachers have fled Afghanistan in a nail-biting flight from Kabul following the Taliban's takeover of the country, their institute's founder and principal told AFP.
Fearing a crackdown on music by the country's new leaders, a total 101 members of Afghanistan's top musical institute landed in Doha on Sunday evening, Ahmad Sarmast said.
The group, about half of them women and girls, plan to fly to Portugal with the support of the government there, said Sarmast, founder of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, who now lives in Melbourne.
But the success of the operation was in doubt until the last moment, he said.
With help from the Qatari embassy in Kabul, the musicians had been ferried in small groups to the city's airport, Sarmast said.
In a first hurdle, Taliban militants manning Kabul airport questioned their visas. But Qatari embassy officials managed to resolve the problem.
Then the girls and women were told that they could not leave the country with their temporary service passports, which are usually issued to officials.
- 'Time of many tears' -
My understanding is that it was not so much of the type of the passports but that the girls were fleeing the country, Sarmast said.
Once again, Qatari officials managed to negotiate their passage.
When the flight finally took off hours later with the musicians, including many from the all-female Zohra orchestra, Sarmast said he was overcome with emotion.
It was a time of many tears. I was crying endlessly. My family were crying together with me. That was the happiest moment in my entire life, he said.
The institute's founder said he had lived many memorable moments with his students, who won standing ovations on international concert tours.
But the feeling and the happiness when I heard that their plane took off the ground is very hard to describe.
The flight was the result of long planning since the Taliban takeover, Sarmast said.
From the moment the Taliban took power in Kabul the discrimination against music and musicians began. The people of Afghanistan were silenced once again, he said.
The Taliban, who banned music outright during their brutal and oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001, swept back into power on August 15.
They have promised a more moderate brand of rule this time -- though they have made clear that they will run Afghanistan within the restrictive limits of their interpretation of sharia law.
The movement's position on music is inconsistent and no clear order has yet been issued.
At a Taliban rally outside Kabul this weekend, for example, religious music was played ahead of speeches by ministers and senior Taliban figures.
- Told to stay at home -
According to Sarmast, the Taliban have told the musical institute's members to stay at home until further notice. Nearly two months later, they have not been given any further information.
The escape from Kabul was just the first phase, Sarmast said, vowing to work until all 184 remaining faculty and students, past and present, were evacuated and reunited with the rest of the school.
During a visit by AFP to the college in Kabul last month, there was no sound of music.
Instead, Taliban soldiers chatted and armed guards cradled Kalashnikovs in the courtyard, shaded by trees with swirling treble clefs spray-painted on to their trunks.