Social awareness programme kicks of from FM 101 | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Social awareness programme kicks of from FM 101

* Programme a mix of live discussions, calls, programmes focussing on current religio-political, social trends

PESHAWAR: Sabaoon, a 55-minute-long Pashto language social awareness programme, went on air Wednesday from FM 101 and a few other stations of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussein participated in a live discussion about the Pashtun culture and the problems that the nation is facing in the face of the ongoing militancy. “The provincial government is ready to dedicate an hour daily for any programme that will help in initiating a process that comprises debates and critical thinking,” the minister said. Produced by the Islamabad-based think-tank Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), as part of its public outreach and social reform, the programme is a mix of live discussions, live calls and programmes focussing on the current religio-political and social trends.

CRSS Chief Executive Imtiaz Gul told Daily Times that the programme will be aired six times a week, and a recorded version of it will be broadcast from Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat and Abbottabad districts as well. In this age of commercial radio and television it is a commendable effort by the CRSS to have initiated a reform-oriented programme, which would prove to be an integral part of our collective efforts for moderation and creating awareness. Hussein thanked the CRSS and the Australian government for these efforts and said, “We welcome them to use the provincial Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Radio in Peshawar and Mardan as well”.

“Creating new narratives for social reform in the province is the motto of the CRSS and this programme will involve prominent politicians, academicians, intellectuals and poets for informed and critical debates on social issues, as well as underlining the need for revival of traditional tools of moderation and conflict-resolution such as the jirga,” Gul said. Jirga will be a permanent feature of CRSS programmes, he added.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/3/2011