Southeastern Afghanistan: The recent closure of radio stations in southeastern Afghanistan has had people calling for the government to intervene. The closure of the local Afghan radio station, Voice of Qalat, has many calling for the country's central government to protect its media freedoms and prevent this from happening again.
Voice of Qalat had been broadcasting from Zabul Provence, freely, when it had been taken down and some of its journalists taken into custody. According to rferl.org, head of NAI Siddiqullah Tawhidi, held a press conference in which he said that the Voice of Qalat had no right to be shut down and expressed his concerns over what has happened.
"Only a court can shut down a medium," Tawhidi said during the conference. "A local governor, ministers, the police, and even the president are not allowed to stop the media. We are concerned about what has been done."
The closure of this station comes after reports on peaceful protests. Station employees after the report were detained and questioned after the report just before the station was shut down.
Now that it has come out in the open, the situation has become a call to stop censoring and stop the closure of more stations as this one has been. The government will be risking a lot if they begin putting harsh restrictions on media. Freedom of speech, press and media have come a long way in Afghanistan and that is why so many are calling for this to stop. It remains to be seen if the radio station will reopen, but many hope it does.