The Minister of Information and Culture of Afghanistan has confirmed that the salary of a veteran Afghan journalist was cut for several days because he used the 'wrong words' for "university", "faculty" and "student". Baseer Babai, a well-known TV journalist of the northern Balkh province, was originally to be sacked because he used the Persian word "
daneshgah", meaning university, instead of its Pashto equivalent "
pohantoon" in his reporting on university students. The Minister of Culture, Abdul Karim Khurram, defends the decision saying: "There are words that according to the Afghan law must be used in official reporting."
This is the second journalist in the northern Balkh province to be treated harshly. Earlier, Parvez Kambakhsh, a 23 year old journalist was sentenced to death for downloading of an article about women in Islam.
Kambakhsh, a reporter for Jahan-e Naw (New World) weekly and a student of journalism at Balkh University was accused of "blasphemy and misrepresenting the verses of the Quran". The irony of the case being that Kambakhsh was not even the writer of the article. It is not clear whether these draconian measures are confined to the northern province of Balkh or applied nationally. The Minister of Culture said on that occasion that he was sorry to hear that the court has issued a death sentence, but described what the reporter had done as being "outside his professional activities". The Minister concluded: "So I have to respect the court."
Baseer Babai is astonished at the recent ruling against him. He says the words for which he is reprimanded are commonly used words and he cannot understand what the motive of the verdict could be. He described it as unjust in his interview with the BBC: "The ruling shows the Ministry has no tolerance for Afghans using their own mother tongue."
Baseer Babai has been based in Mazar-i Sharif for almost all his professional life. I met him in Mazar TV studio in 2002 when I was working with the UN Assistance Mission as a TV and radio producer. He proudly showed me the room from which he produced and presented a daily TV show covering the complex events of the years of heavy fighting prior to 9/11. He pointed to the one camera in the centre of the room; "that’s all I have for producing a regular evening news program from Mazar", he said. "If I wait for funds and hand-outs I will never be able to do it", he added. As the main reporter and presenter of Balkh TV, Mr. Babai was instrumental in running the main provincial TV program for over twenty years. He refused to stop reporting even when he received no salary during the Taliban’s rule, when almost all non-Taliban programs had been banned. But now he thinks the ruling can not be justified.
The references to language made by the Minister of Information and Culture are being challenged by the parliament. Although there are several ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the two official language of the country are Dari (a dialect of Persian spoken mainly by Tajiks and Hazaras) and Pashto (spoken by Pashtuns). In the north Uzbek is common too. However, since Mr. Babai was reporting in Dari there should be no reason for him to switch to a Pashto word for "university". This is especially the case since Dari has always been more universally understood across the country. The Constitution of Afghanistan regards both languages as official. And there are no clauses in the Constitution prohibiting the use of words from one or the other language.
The head of Cultural Commission of the Afghan Parliament, Mohammad Muhaqqeq, himself a Dari speaker, has called on the Minister to explain his ruling to the Parliament. Mr. Mohaqqeq says, this is not the first time such decrees have been issued by the Minister. Referring to the Constitution, Mr. Mohaqqeq says, it is stipulated that: "the media can use any of the current languages used in Afghanistan." In denying Mr. Babai of his salary for several days, officials of the ministry said, "he had used anti-Islamic and anti-cultural terms".
With one journalist awaiting decision on execution for downloading an article from the Internet and now the case of Baseer Babai, Afghan journalists say the Minister of Culture will have a hard time proving he is protecting the fledgling media freedom in Afghanistan.
tajikistanweb's note: Massoumeh Torfeh, is a research associate at the Centre for Media and Film Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies. She was formerly a BBC producer who went to work in Afghanistan on media reconstruction for almost three years after 9/11.
