APNS flays consistent indifference of federal government

Long pending issues of newspaper industry

KARACHI: The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) flayed the consistent indifference of the federal government and especially the Ministry of Information towards the long pending issues of the newspaper industry, stated an APNS press statement.

Sarmad Ali, Secretary-General of the APNS, announcing the decision taken at the Executive Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Hameed Haroon, President of APNS, stated that the members at the Executive Committee have expressed their concerns over the non-payment of dues of member publications and advertising agencies by the federal government for the current year as well as the long outstanding dues against devolved ministries and the federal government departments for which the Prime Minister had already approved the summaries. 

The situation has caused acute financial crunch for the newspaper industry which is braving the crises with grave problems. 

The Executive Committee also noted that the print share in the campaigns launched by the federal government was consistently decreasing which has considerably slashed advertising in newspapers, causing survival issues for smaller and regional publications. 

The Executive Committee also noted that the Advisor on Information, then Secretary of Information and the PIO had assured to resolve the problems including increased advertising share for print, notification of rate increase pending for 3 years and payment of dues at the earliest but these assurances were yet to be honored. 

The members at the Executive Committee deplored that the Joint Committee of APNS, CPNE and the PID formed on the initiative of PIO has not been convened despite a lapse of about 4 months.

The Executive Committee also noted that the provincial governments of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) and the Punjab are also avoiding making payment towards the dues of member publications and advertising agencies pending since long. The Executive Committee regretted that despite categorical assurances by the Secretary Information, Sindh, the current dues of member publications for the year 2015 have not been cleared and the assured payment of liabilities up to 2014 have also not been paid. The Executive Committee urged upon the provincial governments of Sindh, Punjab and KPK to clear the dues of member publications and ensure equitable distribution of ads to genuine publications at the earliest to save the industry from the financial crunch.

The Executive Committee adopted the Annual Report of the Secretary General for the year 2015-16 and decided to hold the Annual General Council Meeting on March 30, 2016 at Karachi. The General Council will elect Executive Committee for the year

2016-17 and chalk out strategies and actions for the problems of newspaper industry.

The meeting was attended by the following:

Hameed Haroon, President;  Rameeza Majid Nizami, Sr. Vice President; Mumtaz A. Tahir, Vice President;  Sarmad Ali, Secretary-General;  Rehmat Ali Raazi, Joint Secretary;  Adnan Zafar (Daily Aaj, Pew), Mehtab Khan (D/Ausaf), Dr. Jabbar Khattak (D/Awami Awaz), Arshad A. Zuberi (D/Business Recorder),  Fauzia Shaheen (D/Dastak), Najamuddin Sheikh (D/Deyanat, Khi), Aijaz-ul-Haq (D/Express), Kazi Asad Abid (D/Ibrat), Javed Mehr Shamsi (D/Kaleem), Mian Akbar Ali (D/Khabrain), Aamer Mahmood (M/Kiran), Syed Mumtaz Ahmed Shah (D/Mashriq, Lhr.),  Mushtaq A. Qureshi (Monthly Naey Ufaq), Inayatullah Khan Niazi (M/Naya Rukh), Umer Mujib Shami (D/Pakistan, Lhr.), S.M. Munir Jilani (D/Paigham), Faisal Zahid Malik (D/Pakistan Observer), Arif Nizami (D/Pakistan Today), Ilyas Shakir (D/Qaumi Akhbar), Dr. Waqar Yousuf Azeemi (M/Roohani Digest), Khushnood Ali Khan (D/Sahafat), Humayon Gulzar (D/Sayadat), Riaz Ahmed Mansuri (M/The Cricketer), Prof. S.B. Hasan (M/Investment & Marketing) and Younus Riaz (D/Beopar).

Mujib-ur-Rehman Shami (President, CPNE), Syed Ali Hasan Naqvi  (Daily Dawn) and Mukhtar Aqil (Daily Jurat) attended the meeting on special invitation.