12 Illegal Radio Stations Shut Down In NW Pakistan

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Authorities in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province have shut down 12 illegal FM radio stations. The closures followed a provincial cabinet decision that called for closing down all stations operating without a government license. Qamar Ali, an official in Khyber Pahtunkwa's Home and Tribal Affairs Department, said the stations engaged in propaganda and were agitating for a rebellion against the government. He said the stations were run by various mosques and religious seminaries in the rural Swabi district near the provincial capital, Peshawar. Authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province see the illegal radio stations as a clear threat to government authority. Illegal broadcasts were blamed for helping instigate a bloody Taliban rebellion in the Swat Valley in 2007.