The US Department of State issued a note saying that it hopes that BBC’s suspension in Tajikistan is temporary.

Washington — The British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) FM radio service in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, was suspended January 11, and a U.S. diplomat says he hopes the interruption in programming is only temporary.

“The United States is aware that the head of the Tajik Committee for TV and Radio Broadcasting denied any political motivations behind the suspension,” said Kyle Scott, chargé d’affaires for the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“We hope that this is indeed the case, and that the suspension of BBC programming is only temporary and due merely to a bureaucratic oversight,” Scott said in a January 19 statement to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Austria.

The BBC’s shortwave and AM service were not disrupted, according to the Reuters news agency.

The move comes before the presidential elections in spring 2006 in which the incumbent will run for another 7- year term as a president. At this point it is difficult to assess the implications of such action by Tajik government. It could be politically charged (the last two elections were not hailed as free by the western media), but it could also be just a beurocratic procedure that BBC has not complied with (BBC’s AM service was not disrupted).

Shutting down any western media is equal to a political suicide at this point for the current the president. Such a move will only weaken Tajikistan’s fragile democratic image. It is no surprise that Mr. Rahmonov has a high chance of winning in the next elections. If anything the current regime needs media (especially independent media) to cover these elections. These upcoming elections, if recognized as free by OSCE, will grant Tajikistan a lot of political points and that will most likely trigger closer relations with the west. I am sure the US will be more vigorous in supporting fledging democracies in this region. That could bring Tajikistan a lot of both economic and political dividends in the international arena.