BBC Pashto () is the

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

-language station of the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

. It was launched in August 1981, and reaches out to the over 50-60 million Pashto speakers in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, as well as the

Pashtun diaspora Pashtun diaspora () comprises all ethnic Pashtuns. There are millions of Pashtuns who are living outside of their traditional homeland of Pashtunistan, a historic region that is today situated over parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the ( ...

around the world. Nabi Misdaq was its first editor.

Radio

Initially, the service only broadcast radio programmes - mainly News and current affairs, however, it later expanded by introducing entertainment slots, long form, features, magazines, hard talk and interactive shows such as Stasy Ghag ''Your Voice'' which is still very popular among its audience.

Online

In 2002, BBC Pashto launched its web page ''BBCPashto.com''. In recent years they have expanded their presence on the social platform. Now BBC Pashto is available on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Soundcloud.

TV

On January 20, 2014, the section began its 15-minute daily news bulletins - Aired via its partner station in Afghanistan ''

Shamshad TV Shamshad Media Network () is based in Afghanistan and Dubai. Shamshad Media Network is a private and an independent network based in Afghanistan, which began transmission in 2005. Shamshad's broadcast area covers a large portion of the country ...

'', the bulletin soon became popular and had a weekly audience of around 1.5 million (2015). The transmission time was 1230 GMT/1700 Afg Time. Ismail Miakhail was the launch producer and Emal Pasarly is the editor. In 2015, due to its huge popularity, high demand and growing viewership, the programme was relaunched and rebranded as ''

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Naray Da Wakht'' (BBC World Right Now). The new 24 minutes show goes live from London in peak time (18.00 Kabul time) on the same partner network ''Shamshad TV''. The new vibrant, hard-hitting live programme provides Pashto speakers with in-depth reporting, analysis and interviews. It also has a weekly interactive segment, Staso Ghazh (''Have Your Say''), containing live phone-ins, social media round ups, comments, video, pictures and audio content from viewers. The programme is presented by lead anchors Sana Safi and Amanullah Atta. Based on a survey conducted by the BBC in 2015, BBC Pashto content reaches 6.5 million people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the rest of the world (2015).

Female Editor

Safia Haleem was its first female editor. She was born in

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, northwestern Pakistan, and graduated from Peshawar University. As a writer and historian Ms Haleem has authored several books in Pashto and English.

Programmes

* Stasy Ghag (Have Your Say) * Naray Da Wakht (World Right Now) * Da Malghalaro Amil (Art Show) * Wama Studio (Studio 7) * Nima Narai (Half of the World) * Jor Taza (How Are You) * Khaza Aw Nananai Naray (Afghan Woman Hour) * Global Newsbeat * Pilwazai (Art and Literature) * De Fekr Lari (The Path Of Thought) * Rogha Sata (Good Health) * Da Woonai Bahs (Weekly Debate)

Awards

* Sony Radio Award for Service to Public Health * 'Team of the Year' at the first BBC World Service Awards, 2007 * New York Festivals World's Best Radio Programme, 2007

Schedule

The radio service is broadcast on 31 FM stations in Afghanistan as of December 2024, while the

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...

transmitting station in Al Ashkharah,

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

and occasionally the

Woofferton transmitting station The Woofferton transmitting station is owned and operated by Encompass Digital Media, as one of the BBC's assets which were handed over as part of the privatization of World Service distribution and transmission in 1997. It is the last remaini ...

were known to broadcast BBC Pashto programming 5 to 6 hours a day as of 23 December 2024.

Journalists

Some of its most famous journalists are: # Mirwais Jalil # Nabi Misdaq # Daud Junbish # Ahmed Omaid Khpalwak # Abdul Samad Rohani # Sana Safi # Najiba Kasraee # Kamal Behzadi # Yaqub Kakar

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:BBC Pashto Pashto mass media Mass media in Afghanistan Pashto-language mass media Pashto-language newspapers Pashto-language television Pashto-language television shows Pashto-language television stations British Pakistani mass media Pashto-language websites BBC World Service foreign language stations Radio stations established in 1981