DUSHANBE, April 22, 2013 Asia-Plus — The Tajik authorities have reportedly suspended broadcasts of Iranian Radio
Sada-ye Khurasan
in the country for three months.
“Journalistic credentials granted to
Sada-ye Khurasan’s
correspondents were annulled on April 20, following a provocative statement released by this radio station,” Abdulfayz Atoyev, the head of the Tajik MFA information department, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, three correspondents have worked for Sada-ye Khurasan in Tajikistan and the issue of renewal of their journalistic credentials will be considered only in three months.
We will recall that on April 15,
Sada-ye Khurasan
posted a statement delivered by Social Democratic Party (SDPT) leader Rahmatillo Zoirov over border lands. SDPT leader claimed that China has obtained disputable territories more than Dushanbe ceded to it.
On April 16, the Tajik MFA spokesman Abdulfayz Atoyev noted at a briefing in Dushanbe that the statement is “provocation.” “This statement is absolutely baseless,” said Atoyev. “I do not know what such statements are made for, but those, who make them, pursue their own interests.”
Meanwhile, Rahmatillo Zoirov said on April 17 that an interview that was posted on Iranian Radio
Sada-ye Khurasan’s
website on April 15 he gave to
Sada-ye Khurasan
more than a year ago. According to him, somebody rediscovered this interview and links it to military exercises in Khorog in order to destabilize the situation in the country and discredit the authorities. Mr. Zoirov, however, further added that it could not be ruled out that that had been initiated by the authorities themselves.
SDPT leader says that information posted on the
Sada-ye Khurasan’s
website correspondents to the facts only partly.
Sada-ye Khurasan
, however, says that it just reproduced a part of Zoirov’s interview with the
Ozodagon
news agency that was posted on
Ozodagon’s
website on September 7, 2012.
