Afghanistan goes to the polls in less than a month, and the Hamid Karzai administration is set to provide some 6,000 candidates free campaign slots on national radio and television—all with a little help from India.Each candidate is to get either two radio broadcasts of five-minutes each, or a two-minute advertisement on television. Provincial council candidates, get four minutes on the radio waves.In an Indian Express exclusive, M. Musa Maroofi, the chairman of the newly created National Broadcast commission, said, ‘‘We want all candidates to have an equal opportunity to present their views to voters. It’s a free service, so even if one can’t afford it, one can still get a chance.’’Much of this has been possible because of India’s assistance in uplinking 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces with Kabul through the INSAT 3A satellite. New Delhi will also uplink Afghanistan’s other provinces, though not before the elections. But, with the bulk of the provinces now satellite networked, Afghan TV has a wider reach than ever before, and radio broadcasts right across the nation.A lawyer by profession, Maroofi is a close associate of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He was also involved in drafting thenew Afghan constitution.‘‘Our Constitution supports free speech,’’ he said, ‘‘and it is through measures like these that we are trying to put this into practice.’’Though the elections are keeping him busy for the moment, Maroofi has another serious issue to tackle — Bollywood films. While they are very popular here, right wing Islamist elements have begun to raise objections to them.Maroofi, has not so far adopted such stringent measures against the films as banning them. But, in the balancing act he has to perform between tradition and new norms of free expression he has cautioned cable operators on these issues, asking them to be more careful in what they opt to show.‘‘I am reluctant to apply any sort of censorship because Indian films are such an important part of Afghan life,’’ Maroofi says. ‘‘Our experience of films is identical with Indian cinema.’’
