Balochi-speaking people in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and other parts of the world can now tune into AIR broadcast in the language through computers and mobile phones as India’s public broadcaster on Friday launched multimedia webpage and mobile app of the service.
Prasar Bharati Chairperson A Surya Prakash, who launched the mobile app and the webpage, said the move is part of India’s efforts to reach out to the neighbourhood for better people-to-people contact.
The move to launch AIR’s digital platforms in Balochi came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech in which he had brought up the issue of Pakistani atrocities on the people of Balochistan and PoK.
India had also raised the issue of atrocities in Balochistan at the meeting of a UN body earlier this week.
Also Read: All India Radio Can Be Heard in Balochi In Parts of Pakistan
Prasar Bharati officials said the mobile app and the webpage were just “value addition” as Balochi service of the AIR has been in existence since 1974.
There are several languages in which services are broadcast by the AIR. Balochi is happening today, it will also happen for other languages. As the world’s largest democracy, we have the responsibility to disseminate news and information across the world which is factual and correct.Surya Prakash, Prasar Bharati chairperson
Asked if AIR’s services could face obstruction in Pakistan given the prevailing situation, AIR DG F Shehryar said the radio service is on the short-wave which cannot be blocked.
Responding to queries, Shehryar said that while AIR does not aim at countering any kind of propaganda, it will challenge falsehoods by presenting the correct information.
Shehryar said that, at present, one hour of programming in Balochi language is broadcast daily, but there is a paucity of programmers in the language and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has assured it of support in this regard.
Surya Prakash said, AIR’s Balochi service had been very popular but it was now facing competition from some other broadcasters.
“But AIR has a lot of goodwill among Balochi people, who have an emotional attachment and consider it an authentic source of information,” he said.
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