In a touchy drive, in the presence of President Karzai, the Ministerial Council showed that their tolerance had an end and nobody should ever try to taste their patience, banning radio and television broadcast in accents deemed un-indigenous. Based on press release issued by office of Mr. President, cabinet members have ordered that Radio and Televisions should avoid using unfamiliar words and foreign accents. The cabinet has also emphasized that Information and Culture Ministry, Ministry of Higher Education, and Ministry of Education should try their best to encourage and promote national language and accent.
Deputy to Ministry of Information and Culture, Din Mohammad Rashidi has told that today Dari and Pashtu both face problems and Afghans had the right to modify and improve both languages in terms of accent and words. Though he avoided to give any particular example but said vividly that if a word is popular in a Persian-speaking country, it does not necessary mean that it can be used in Afghanistan and it was the right of Afghan people to use words which are familiar.
Meanwhile, he did not explain which organization is responsible to identify whether a particular word belongs to whom and can be used inside the country or not, but claimed that the Ministry of Information and Culture suggested Presidency that language experts should be engaged and clarify which words could be used. Finding so many other social and political problems that the poor Afghan are engulfed in, it is weird to find authorities dedicating their concentrations on the issues which may further deteriorate the situation in the country. First of all, some of those who hold key positions in government indeed stepped on the hierarchical stairs of power due to political linkages and communal affiliation. They are really poor in terms of knowledge of roots and development of a language.
It is obvious that cabinet members did not mean that national or some private TV’s and radio channels stop broadcasting, for instance, in English language. Because they are at the forefront of encouraging their sons and daughters to learn English and other foreign language in order to take admission in high profile foreign educational institutions. The main factor behind pulling them to make a move is Persian words. During recent years, words like “Danishgah”, means University in Persian have sparked controversy. Many oppose that instead of the word Danishgah, Pohantun should be used.
As a matter of fact, Din Mohammad Rashedi suggests the word Dasnishgah should be erased because it is Persian not Dari. Without going in detail, literature experts are all in consensus that Dari and Persian only differ in accent otherwise they are one and the same. Secondly, have respected cabinet members solved all serious problems because of which people die or suffer chronically? Who can forget that just few months ago, discussions among MPs ended to physical clashes over whether to summon Ministers or not? Who cannot remember that their some of the ministers failed to spend half of their developmental budget? Who cannot recall that some of the authorities who ordered people in what accent they should talk or what words they should use while talking with one another spend less than 20% of their budget? It is regrettable when Afghan people die due to hunger in Daikundi, Nooristan, Badakhshan and Bamyan, the respected ministries fail to use their budget to deliver basic services to them, but burst in anger over the meager issues.
It is highly appreciable if cabinet members avoid putting such touchy issues ahead and pervert the attentions of people from much important issues like horrible unemployment rate, drug addiction, terrorism, corruption and hundreds of others. Using or not using the word Danishgah would not fill the stomach of people who die due to hunger or relieve an individual who lost his/her relatives in terroristic attack.