The Taliban has ordered malls in Herat remove the heads of mannequins as they were similar to statues which goes against the tenets of Islam, Tolo News reported on Wednesday.

It reported that the order came from the ministry of virtue and vice.

“These are the statues- they are defined in the (holy) books and should not be in Islam. These were being worshipped. They (the shopkeepers) said that they display the clothes on them. I ordered that they (the mannequins) should have their heads removed,” Tolo reports Aziz Rahman, the head of Herat's department of vice and virtue, as saying.

The ministry said it will punish shopkeepers for violating the order.

The move has been criticized by shopkeepers.

“We use the mannequins to display the clothes,” Aziz Ahmad Haidar, a garment seller, was quoted as saying in Tolo.

Mehran Azizi, a resident of Herat, also told Tolo News these mannequins are used in other Islamic countries as well.

Reporting on the issue on Wednesday, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica quoted the head of the trade association in Herat saying how the order will cause financial losses.

“The heads of the mannequins should be covered, not removed. Each mannequin costs $100, or $80 or $70, and beheading them will be a huge financial loss,” remarked Abdul Wadood Faiz Zada, head of trade association in Herat.

21-year old Mohammad Yusuf was also quoted as saying the Taliban, “have not changed, there will be restrictions once again. They have not gained international recognition, but should they obtain it, they would bring back even stricter limitations.”

Other news outlets also picked up this story including the Russian outlet RT which tweeted the news.

Others took to Twitter to ridicule the Taliban's new order.