KABUL, Afghanistan
The curse of number 39 continues to haunt many in war-ravaged Afghanistan where authorities have said today that the disgust towards this number has caused the traffic department a multi-million dollar loss.
In landlocked Afghanistan, many rituals of the long past are still locked in the minds of the locals. The antipathy towards number 39, however, is not a matter of the ancient past. Legends say that a pimp in the past used to drive a car numbered 39 in the western city of Herat near Iran. His apartment number too was also 39.
This legend has filtered down to current times and has become a prevailing taboo. At present, even young car dealers in downtown Kabul's car market would think it strange if a car is sold or driven with the 'cursed combination' of 3 and 9.
Any association, even an imaginary one, with the illegal sex business could lead to serious repercussions in a conservative Afghan society and everyone seems well aware of it.
Interior Ministry officials - apparently irritated over the continuous rejection of any number plate that has a combination of 3 and 9 at any point in the five to six digits plates - called on Afghans to stop blindly following this myth of the past.
In a rare press conference to address this matter, Chief of Kabul's Traffic Police General Assadullah said the practice has caused the department a loss of at least 20 million dollars. He said buyers refused to accept the number plates.
"Systematically the government cannot avoid the combination of 3 and 9 at various points in the registration process and we cannot change this," he stressed.
The traffic chief was accompanied by the Spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, Sediq Siddiqui, who called upon the religious clerics to address this 'serious problem'.
Ali Khail, a car dealer in Ahmad Shah Baba district, laughingly told Anadolu Agency it would be a daunting task to change the mindset of the people about 'the morda-gow' (slang term for pimp) number.
He explained that the number is not absolutely rejected as some people, especially taxi drivers, who cannot afford expensive cars do not mind buying one as the cars are 20 to 30 percent cheaper.
Some Afghans in the capital, however, allege that the hatred towards 39 is not as simple as it sounds. The car dealers and transport department officials exchange allegations and hold each other responsible for creating the hoax about the number 39 as part of a bigger conspiracy to benefit few in terms of manipulating the car prices and registration fees.
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