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Paks whine about Afghan TV coverage
 QUETTA, Pakistan - Pakistan on Thursday banned two Afghan TV channels and stopped cable operators from airing their content because they had blamed Pakistani security forces for trying to kill an Afghan politician, an official said.
The ban was the latest blow in a war of words between Pakistan and Afghanistan amid an increase of Islamic extremist and tribal violence on both sides of these troubled neighbors borders. The Tolo TV and Ariana TV stations were barred from operating in Pakistan because they were involved in negative propaganda against Pakistan, said Abdul Jalal Khan, an official with the state-run Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority that supervises cable and television channels.
They used poisonous, undiplomatic language against Pakistan in their programs, Khan said from Quetta, capital of the southwestern Baluchistan province where many Afghan refugees live.
| Afghans told the truth, and the Paks thought it was hell. |
The stations stopped airing in Quetta on Thursday, said Khan, who accused both stations of blaming Pakistans spy network for a March 12 suicide attack against a senior Afghan political figure in the Afghan capital Kabul. The official lived, but four people were killed. Islamabad has rejected claims of involvement.
Privately run Tolo issued a statement condemning the banning, saying it always attempted to present balanced stories on national, regional and international issues. We are alarmed at news that TOLO has been banned in Baluchistan province as our station is very popular in the province, the statement said, adding the Pakistani Embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, rejected overtures to discuss the ban.
| "We like to think of ourselves as Radio Free Wazoo," he added. |
Mohammed Shahid, a spokesman for the regulatory authority in the capital, Islamabad, declined to confirm the ban, but said the Afghan stations had not applied for permission to broadcast their programs in Pakistan.
Posted by: Steve White 2006-03-16 |
