Tajikistan’s presidential ruling party will soon begin broadcasts on its own party-controlled radio station, according to an order by party chairman and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on Friday. The radio station is expected to begin broadcasting later in March, the Tajik news agency AsiaPlus reported the head of Propaganda and Media for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Usmon Soleh as saying. The station will broadcast news, analytical pieces as well as literature and music.“According to our plans originally, PDP radio will broadcast to residents of Dushanbe and the surrounding areas, and then gradually cover the whole territory of the republic,” AsiaPlus reported Soleh as saying.
The PDP radio station will be the first station operated by a political party. Three parties publish periodicals, but none have television or radio channels, according to the report. The main opposition party, the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP), has been trying for years to get a station off the ground, but has so far failed. “Despite the bureaucratic obstacles, we do not leave hope open [sic] for an IRP channel,” AsiaPlus reported IRP leader Muhiddin Kubiri as saying on Friday.
Broadcasting to the entire republic, however, may not be feasible until 2020, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty noted in a Monday report. Portions of the northernmost Sughd province are still out of transmitter range for television and radio.
(Source: Central Asia Newswire/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)