Kabul, Feb 26, 2013
The Afghan Council of Ministers in its 49 meeting in presence of Hamid Karzai banned the radio and televisions from using “strange languages and accents”.
According to the general directorate of council of ministers secretariat, the order has been passed on to ministry of information, culture and tourism and ministry of higher education to act up on.
The order reads, “Ministries of information, culture and tourism, education and higher education in accordance with their historic and moral obligations should secure the propriety of accents, the quality and characteristics of national languages, particularly special attention should be paid to the radio and television programs in which the accent of the original national languages must be used, and the use of programs with strange accents and unfamiliar words must be avoided.”
The general directorate of council of ministers secretariat does not provide further details.
However, in connection to this matter, Mr. Din Mohammad Mobariz Rashidi, deputy minister of information, culture and tourism told BBC, “Today, Dari as well as Pashto language has faced some problems; it is the right of Afghanistan to refine its languages word wise and accent wise.”
Mr. Rashidi restrained from giving specific examples, but said, it is not correct to use, “the words that make sense in Persian speaking countries, but do not make sense to Afghan people.” He added, “It is the right of Afghan people to use the languages that exist among the Afghan people.”
Deputy Minister did not name any organization responsible to distinguish the words with no sense; but said that his ministry has suggested to president’s office to “find experts and linguists to sort the words and determine which words to use.”
Mr. Rashidi has also said that the local media operating in provinces can broadcast in their local provincial accents, but the programs produced in the capital must be in the language of people of Kabul.