World Radio Day celebrated for first time in KP

PESHAWAR: The newly formed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Radio Broadcasters Forum celebrated the World Radio Day here Thursday.

It was the first time that the World Radio Day was celebrated in Peshawar.

The cabinet of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Radio Broadcasters Forum took oath of office from senior journalist and broadcaster Rahimullah Yusufzai.

The cabinet embodied diversity as two females and one broadcaster belonging to the transgender community also hold offices in it along with their male colleagues. Khaista Rahman is the president of the forum while Afsarul Mulk Afghan is the general secretary. Both spoke on the occasion and pledged to serve the broadcasters and use their skills to highlight and solve the problems facing them. Two panel discussions were held to discuss issues concerning radio broadcasting and the future of radio stations. The panelists included Rahimullah Yusufzai, Faizullah Jan who is the head of the journalism department at the University of Peshawar, TV journalist Farzana Ali and writer and trainer Aurangzeb Khan

In the second session, the three panelists were Riaz Daudzai, a commissioner in the Right to Information Commission (RTI), Dr Ashraf Ali who is a researcher and expert on the former tribal areas and Aurangzeb Khan.

The panelists asked the government to invest in radio as it was an effective medium of information. They also stressed on maintaining neutrality and objectivity in radio journalism and focusing on issues concerning the common people. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Radio Broadcasters Forum announced that a directory of all the broadcasters would be published. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and Finance Minister Taimoor Saleem Jhagra had agreed to attend the event but they failed to turn up much to the disappointment of the participants.