DUSHANBE, January 13, 2012, Asia-Plus — The date of the launch of a joint Afghan-Iranian-Tajik television project has not yet been determined.
In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Asadullo Rahmonov, the head of the Committee for TV and Radio-broadcasting under the Government of Tajikistan, noted on January 13 that there are no any disagreements between the sides.
According to him, Iran has already brought the necessary equipment for a joint Persian-speaking television channel to Dushanbe .
Rahmonov noted that there were some minor problems to be resolved to launch the channel. “the sides are discussing who will be responsible for satellite broadcasting,” he said.
Rahmonov found difficulty in saying when exactly the joint television channel will be launched.
Meanwhile, representatives from the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe had previously noted that the implementation the Afghan-Iranian-Tajik television project has been postponed due to some reservations expressed by Afghan officials.
Experts says Afghan officials are not at all happy with the term “Persian-speaking” in the name of the cannel. They say Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the Persian language is not their native language.
Besides, the sides have not yet reached agreement on appearance of anchorpersons of the channel, experts say. Thus, Iran and Afghanistan reportedly do not allow female TV presenters and guests to appear without adhering to Islamic dress code (without the hijabs).
We will recall that the tree countries’ leaders met in Dushanbe in 2006 and agreed to establish a joint television channel.
At a two-day ministerial meeting that took place in Dushanbe on March 24-25, 2008, the foreign ministers of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Iran agreed to establish a new Dushanbe-based Persian-language television channel to broadcast in each country. The sides agreed that the common television network will broadcast programs in Farsi, Dari, Pashto, and Tajik. The programs aired by the joint station are expected to focus mainly on cultural issues.
In August 2008, the heads of state of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran signed appropriate documents on the establishment of the join TV channel in Dushanbe on sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.
The headquarters of the television channel would be based in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.
