Pakistan vows to lift ban on Afghan TV channels

Islamabad, May 9, 2007 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistan's federal minister for information and broadcasting has assured his country will lift a ban on Afghan television channels.

Muhammad Ali Durrani held out the assurance at a meeting with Ihsanullah Arinzai, head of the Ariana TV channel, in Islamabad on Wednesday. Saeed Haideri, advisor to the Sindh chief minister, was also present on the occasion.

The minister, who promised to convey the visiting delegations request to higher authorities, said efforts would be made to enable the Afghan TV channels to work in a free environment.

At the Ankara summit, presidents of the two countries decided to eschew releasing provocative statements and news against each other, recalled Durrani while referring to the tension-defusing meeting between Gen. Musharraf and Karzai.

In a chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, Ariana TV chief Arinzai said nobody should take undue benefit of media freedom. Fanning tensions or difference served no ones interest, he observed.

Around two million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan have every right to know what is going on in their homeland, said Arinzai, who believed that the ban on Afghan TV channels ran counter to the freedom of expression.

Apart from a trip to the Ministry of Information and Culture in Islamabad, the Afghan delegates also visited offices of Pakistans private TV channels including ARY, Indus and Geo in the southern port city of Karachi.

In Peshawar, officials of the state-controlled Pakistan Television (PTV) vowed to help the Afghan channels in Pashto dramas. Details of the proposed support were not immediately available.