New York, July 31, 2002—Three weeks after it was refused
a radio license, the independent Tajik news agency Asia Plus was informed
that it will receive permission to broadcast—and become the first
private broadcaster to serve the capital, Dushanbe.
On July 29, Tajik president Imomali Rakhmonov met with Umed Babakhanov,
director of Asia Plus, and said he would instruct the State Committee
for Television and Radio to issue the license that Asia Plus has sought
for four years.
The president's action overturns the committee's terse rejection of
a license earlier this month. In its July 8 rejection, the committee
said that a private alternative to state-run radio in Dushanbe was
"unnecessary." [Click here for
more details]
The agency's executive director, Daler Nurkhanov, told the Committee
to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the ninety-minute meeting between
the president and Babakhanov was unprecedented. "The president promised
that the situation will be resolved within two weeks," said Nurkhanov.
"We expect to be on the air on September 9, Tajik Independence Day."
"After significant delay, we welcome the government's decision
to allow an independent radio station to broadcast in Dushanbe," said
CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "This is a positive sign and we
expect that the Tajik government will continue to follow up its words
with action."
CPJ deputy director Joel Simon and Europe and Central
Asia program coordinator Alex Lupis had met with Tajik foreign minister
Talbak Nazarov in New York on April 19 to discuss press freedom issues.
CPJ then sent a letter to Nazarov on May 8 outlining specific press
freedom problems, including the inability of Asia Plus to obtain a
broadcast license. [Click
here for more details]
CPJ Representative Meets Tajik Ambassador
And in a meeting on July 29 in Vienna with Hamrokhon Zaripov,
the Tajik ambassador to Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary, CPJ Europe
and Central Asia consultant Emma Gray brought up Asia Plus' case in
what was a frank two-hour discussion of press freedom issues.
During the Vienna meeting, Gray also raised the case of Dodojon
Atovullo, editor and publisher of the Russian-language paper Chroghi
Ruz. Ambassador Zaripov criticized what he described as the "inflammatory
language" of the newspaper but said that Atovullo was free to return
to Dushanbe and print Chroghi Ruz in his homeland. "He is a
citizen of Tajikistan," he said. "He has not been stripped of his
citizenship, and is free to return at any time."
The influential opposition newspaper is currently published in
Moscow and distributed throughout Central Asia. Criminal charges were
recently dropped against Atovullo, who fled in exile to Germany in
May 2001 after being accused of attempting to overthrow the state
as a result of critical reporting in his newspaper.
Although Ambassador Zaripov said that neither government officials,
nor the judiciary nor police, has any claim on Atovullo, he did say
that he believes journalists should support their country. "They do
not have to be patriots," he said, "but they must not be enemies of
the people."
END
