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Justice ministry to curb wedding budgets

Published:Monday | June 20, 2011 | 12:00 AM
In this June 16 photo invitees enjoy a meal during a wedding reception in Kabul, Afghanistan. Some believe the weddings that cost tens of thousands of dollars hint at the graft strangling government and private life in Afghanistan. ap

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP):

Some brides in Afghanistan change their outfits up to 10 times. Throw in the six-hour trips to the beauty parlours and the meals for 1,000 guests, and one wedding alone could bankrupt many Afghans.

Now the justice ministry is proposing limits on the lavish events to cut down on the pressure poor Afghans face to match the elites' elaborate weddings. The government is specifically targeting party halls, and threatening to fine owners who flout the austerity rules.

"It is breaking the back of the groom and of the family," Justice Minister Habibullah Ghaleb said of the lavish nuptials. "It creates an immoral corruption."

Under the proposed wedding law, which still needs to be passed by parliament, locations would be barred from allowing more than 300 attendees for an engagement party and more than 500 people at a wedding, Ghaleb said.

Those halls caught breaking the law would be subject to serious fines or other possible penalties. However, it remains unclear what enforcement powers authorities would have to go after the wedding halls, especially in a country where bribery remains common.