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Ban On Two Afghan TV Channels
Pakistani authorities have banned two private Afghan TV channels on charges that they spread anti-Pakistan propaganda. The two channels, Tolo TV and Ariana TV, which are widely watched on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, had accused Pakistani security forces of being behind last week's suicide attack aimed at Afghan Senate leader and former president Sibghatullah Mujaddedi. Mujaddedi had blamed the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, for the attack saying that he had information from various sources that they had planned to kill him because of his efforts to engage the Taliban in the peace process. Pakistan denied any involvement in the attack.

Reports say that an official with the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), Abdul Jalal Khan, accused the two TV stations of being involved in baseless propaganda against Pakistan. Another PEMRA official said that the two channels did not have any telecast rights in Pakistan. Reports in the Indian media say that PEMRA has already banned Indian channels in Pakistan on the grounds that they carry propaganda against Pakistan and that they are a threat to local TV channels.
"They's poaching on our market share!"
The two channels are popular among Afghan refugees and Pashtun people in the Baluchistan province and the North West Frontier Province.
Tonights line-up on Tolo TV; "Jihad Idol", "Survivor - Waziristan" and "Law and Order - Sharia Victims Unit".
This latest measure by the Pakistani authorities comes just as tensions have increased between the two neighbours over who is responsible for Islamic militants operating in the volatile border region between the two countries.
Posted by: Steve 2006-03-17
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=145733