By Mauli Buch, IANS,
Mumbai: Din Mohammad Mobariz Rashidi, Afghanistan’s deputy minister for information and culture, has huge hopes for the media in his country. “With newer broadcast programmes, we plan to pull out war thoughts from people,” he said.
In an interview with IANS Tuesday, the Afghan minister said that although huge strides were made by the media in his country over the last decade, much remains to be done in the area of shaping policy in television and film programming.
While the improved security situation in the country has pushed “unprecedented growth”, Rashidi said, the time had come to chalk out a media regulation policy.
He asserted, however, that Afghanistan enjoyed one of the most free media regimes in the region. The problem did not lie with limits on the freedom of expression, the minister said.
“The problem is that we are still in a state of war against terrorism and hence, policy regulations with regard to the (media) sector will be a wise step,” he said, via a translator.
Since 2002, press restrictions were gradually relaxed and private media diversified in Afghanistan. Freedom of expression and the press is promoted in the 2004 constitution and censorship is banned, though defaming individuals or producing material contrary to the principles of Islam is prohibited.
But, Rashidi pointed out that media freedom is still better in Afghanistan than in almost all the surrounding countries. “We have the best law when it comes to freedom of speech,” he said.
“Today we have 175 radio stations, 100 TV stations and have produced more than 500 films. We have seen an unprecedented growth in the media sector owing to the freedom of speech and are in a much better position than we were a decade ago,” he said.
Rashidi also highlighted the difference a decade had made in Afghanistan: “We now have better infrastructure. Ten years back, we had little or no access to the internet. The country’s communication network was not strong and there was only one telecom service provider as against the five now,” he said
Speaking about aspects in the media that need improvement, Rashidi told IANS that his country looks to support from India and other SAARC nations for introducing more entertainment and educational programmes on television.
“Our television broadcast programmes mainly revolve around political subjects. Be it a talk or a discussion, it is mainly related to politics. We feel the need to introduce more programmes relate to entertainment and also that will prove to be educational for children,” he said.
“Also most portions of our media broadcast is what we have inherited and learnt from other countries. The content of the broadcast comes mainly from Iran, India, Korea and Turkey,” he added.
Rashidi said that the ministry wants the media to play a vital role in changing the lifestyles and psychology people of Afghanistan. He said that the country has been struggling with three decades of war that has killed thousands of civilians and maimed or traumatised tens of thousands more.
But the power of the media, the minister asserted, could be used to get people to think positively, and push out thoughts of war: “We want media to help instil positive thoughts and change the psychology of the people, their lifestyle, thereby creating better living, leading to prosperity,” he said.
(Mauli Buch can be contacted at [email protected])