PFUJ forms ad hoc committee to run its affairs, hold elections

Three-day Biennial Delegates Meeting ends in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Biennial Delegates Meeting of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) here Saturday formed an ad hoc committee to run the affairs of the organization and hold elections of its affiliated union of journalists in January next year.

A press release said the ad hoc committee would be headed by senior journalist Mohammad Riaz, who in the past led a public sector news agency. The committee, to have one member each from all 13 unions of journalists, was also tasked to hold the PFUJ elections in March 2017.  The ad hoc committee would also take steps to bring together all the estranged factions of the PFUJ.

The decision to make the ad hoc committee was made after the Unification Committee comprising senior journalists expressed its inability to hold elections of the PFUJ due to the polarization and factionalism in its ranks. Its chairman Mohammad Ziauddin announced the dissolution of the committee and halted the election process. He and his colleagues Shahidur Rahman, Nasir Zaidi and Rahimullah Yusufzai admitted that all their efforts to unify the PFUJ factions had failed due to non-cooperation of leaders of different factions and, therefore, there was no use continuing the effort.

The Biennial Delegates Meeting had met for three days at Peshawar with the Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) playing the host. The meeting also passed more than 50 resolutions highlighting the problems and security threats facing the journalists and seeking support from the government and the media houses to counter the threat and improve their working conditions. The resolution also sought guarantees for freedom of press, better working conditions, security of jobs, implementation of the 7th Wage Board Award and formation of the 8th Wage Board, reinstatement of sacked newspapers and TV channels employees, state recognition and proper compensation for the martyred journalists and other media workers, and interim monetary relief for the employees of both print and electronic media.