Interior ministry shuts down Radio Mashaal following ISI report

[kunatawar]

Interior ministry shuts down Radio Mashaal following ISI report - Pakistan - DAWN.COM





The Interior Ministry on Friday ordered to close down operations of Radio Mashaal, a Pashto language broadcaster linked to the US-funded Radio Free Europe, on recommendations of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).


A notification issued by the ministry, directed towards Islamabad chief commissioner and police chief, said that as per an ISI report, the radio airs programmes "found against the interests of Pakistan and in line with hostile intelligence agency's agenda".


It said that the four main themes of the programmes aired by the service include "portraying Pakistan as a hub of terrorism and safe haven for militant groups, propagating Pakistan as a failed state in terms of providing security to its minorities and Pakhtuns, presenting the Pakhtuns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Balochistan as being disenchanted with the state, and distorting facts to incite people against state and its institutions".


The ministry, thus, decided to close down the radio's regional office located in Islamabad and terminate its activities.


The Czech-based Radio Free Europe first began its services in Fata in 2010 by the name of Radio Mashaal with an aim of providing "an alternative to the growing number of extremist radio stations in the region".


Radio Free Europe was also among nine outlets Russia accused of being "foreign agents" last month.

[Traveller]

Good move. Radio Mashaal is a foreign propoganda machine.

[Elite Pakhtun]

Damn... i guess those countries can get along.

[maneatinglizard]

Apparently they also destroyed a radio tower along the border.

Good move. Radio Mashaal is a foreign propoganda machine.

Not so sure about that. I don’t care about Mashaal being shut down, as indeed it was US propaganda. However, a positive reaction to this may embolden the Paki military to start putting a tighter control on media in general, which is not good.

You don’t want Pakistan to become like the Arab dictatorships, where every Friday khutba is strictly controlled by the military/intelligence agencies, and just another vehicle to spread government propaganda.

[kunatawar]

Good move. Radio Mashaal is a foreign propoganda machine.

i dont care for mashaal radio that much as i rarely even follow them but i think this is still a bad step. from what little i know they were not outright anti state but had strong a liberal bias, that should not be enough of a reason to shut it down. like the user before me said stuff like this could be used as the starting point to crack down on anything even slightly against state narrative.

this is just a personal take but we already get bombarded with propaganda from one side then propaganda from another side may not be such a bad thing. they might even each other out

[maneatinglizard]

US demands Radio Mashaal's transmission be restored - World - DAWN.COM

I don't know Urdu, so I can't verify the original story (did the US really "demand" the transmission to be restored). How impartial is Dawn?

This caught my eye:

It had said that the four main themes of the programmes aired by the service include "portraying Pakistan as a hub of terrorism and safe haven for militant groups, propagating Pakistan as a failed state in terms of providing security to its minorities and Pakhtuns, presenting the Pakhtuns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Balochistan as being disenchanted with the state, and distorting facts to incite people against state and its institutions".

I mean, the first two are true lol. The third one is arguable, and the last one would be more classic propaganda if true.

[maneatinglizard]

from what little i know they were not outright anti state but had strong a liberal bias, that should not be enough of a reason to shut it down.

I don't follow the Pashto stations, but the English equivalent was definitely a Trojan Horse for infecting Afghans/Pashtuns with Western degeneracy. I remember a few months ago they had a story about the "secret lives of gay Afghans" that claimed dudes were secretly using park and gym bathrooms to meet up and have gay sex.

Like, you can't make it any more obvious that you made the entire thing up when you literally just transplant Western culture into a foreign setting and call it a day.

[Admin Khan]

US demands Radio Mashaal's transmission be restored - World - DAWN.COM

I don't know Urdu, so I can't verify the original story (did the US really "demand" the transmission to be restored). How impartial is Dawn?

This caught my eye:



I mean, the first two are true lol. The third one is arguable, and the last one would be more classic propaganda if true.

Pakistanis tend to use DAWN as a source of truth, so I suppose there is some validity to this.

[maneatinglizard]

Apparently they also destroyed a radio tower along the border.



Not so sure about that. I don’t care about Mashaal being shut down, as indeed it was US propaganda. However, a positive reaction to this may embolden the Paki military to start putting a tighter control on media in general, which is not good.

You don’t want Pakistan to become like the Arab dictatorships, where every Friday khutba is strictly controlled by the military/intelligence agencies, and just another vehicle to spread government propaganda.

Why did Pakistan's Geo TV go dark? | Pakistan | Al Jazeera

[MENTION=19846]Traveller[/MENTION], this is why the support for Radio Mashal being shutdown was a bad thing. The Army is feeling emboldened, taking Geo TV off the air, and ordering the boycotting of PTM coverage.