PAKISTAN: Women's Voices Hit the Airwaves

Radio stations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) started by the Pakistanl government in 2006 use women's voices to counter the militant's propaganda, writes Zofeen T Ebrahim describes the women in Peshawar who are spearheading a media movement.

Armed with a mini-recorder and enveloped from head to toe in a chadar, with just her eyes showing, Asma Nawar's day begins on a different note every day.

If it is not reporting the price hike during Ramadan (the holy month of fasting for Muslims), then it is informing her listeners about the quality of education or the transport problems as she combs through the city of Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Working for Radio Khyber, a Jamrud-based FM radio station, in the Khyber Agency, Nawar, 25, says, "I want to tell the rest of the women that 'purdah' should not deter them from pursuing their dreams."

Khyber Radio is among the four radio stations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) started by the federal government in 2006 to counter the militant's propaganda and stem their growing influence in the region. While Khyber Radio is an FM channel, the other two - Radio Razmak and Miran Shah Radio Station - are broadcast on medium wave (MW) frequency from Miran Shah and Razmak, in North Waziristan. There was a third MW radio station, Wana Radio Station, in South Waziristan but the militants destroyed it in April. The broadcast is a mix of music, news reports and religious programmes.

FATA, located between the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the settled areas of the NWFP, include six other principalities, namely, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan. Strict adherence to the 'purdah', an integral part of Pashtun society, has kept women here almost invisible.

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