Ads asking govt to sign BSA being probed

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Attorney General Office (AGO) on Saturday said it had appointed a delegation to investigate advertisements being run on broadcast media, asking the government to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the US.

AGO spokesman Basir Azizi told a joint press conference with Government Media and Information Center (GMIC) director, Sifatullah Safi, that every action that created unease in the public mind was a crime.

He said a delegation had been appointed to investigate and identify circles involved in running the ads and find exact sources and individuals financing the commercials.

Safi said the messages from unknown sources had been requesting the government to immediate sign the security agreement.

“It is not a problem if an Afghan or a civil society organization personally expresses views on political issues in the media, but it is illegal when such views are run on TV and radio as commercial ads,” Safi said.

He said the ads might be part of efforts to mount pressure on the Afghan government to sign the agreement with the United States.

However, he said the government would not come under influence of such advertisements.

He said GMIC had a responsibility to monitor media activities and called on judicial organs to investigate circles behind the advertisements.

One such ad ran on a TV channel and available with GMIC says “signing the BSA is in the interest of Afghanistan’s decision and sign the agreement immediately.”

It showed common people requesting the government to sign the BSA.

mds/ma

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