APNS Sindh Committee dismayed over non-payment of dues

KARACHI: The Sindh Committee of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has strongly condemned the inordinate delay by the Sindh Information Department to clear the long outstanding dues as well as dues relating to 2015 despite clear assurances by the Sindh government.
The meeting of Sindh Committee of APNS was held on Tuesday. The members expressed their dismay over the non-payment of dues of the member publications based in the Sindh province from the year 2010 to December 2014. The issue related to the dues of member publications amounting to Rs470 million against advertisements released by the Sindh Information Department which has not been settled despite various communications.
The members noted that the requests to the chief minister, minister for information and the secretary information remain unattended and the issue lingered on resulting in accumulation of dues over Rs470 million.
Due to the non-payment of the staggering amount, the financial survival of APNS members has been irretrievably compromised and continues to be threatened.
The Sindh Committee through a special resolution asked the Sindh Information Department to clear the dues of APNS members by September 18, 2015 or else they shall be constrained to suspend the advertisements of Government of Sindh in its member publications.
The meeting was attended by Javed Mehr Shamsi, Chairman, Sindh Provincial Committee, Sarmad Ali, secretary general, APNS, Muhammad Akram (D/Qaumi Akhbar), Zeeshan Butt (D/Jang), Dr Jabbar Khattak (Daily/Awami Awaz), Ali Hasan Naqvi (D/Dawn), Kazi Mustafa (D/Ibrat), Aijazul Haq (D/Express), Bilal Farooqui (D/Aghaz), Ghulam Nabi Chandio (D/Pak), Mukhtar Aqil (D/Jurrat), Dr Waqar Yousuf Azeemi (M/Roohani Digest), Younus Mehr (D/Halchal), Najamuddin Sheikh (D/Deyanat), Muhammad Saleem (D/Sindh Sujag), Younus Riaz (D/Beopar) Ms Zahida Abbasi (D/Nau Sijj), Usman Arab Saati (D/Vatan), Faisal Zahid Malik (D/Pakistan Observer), Ihsan Ali Narejo (D/Graff), Kazi Sajjad Akbar (D/The Regional Times), Abdul Rahman Mangrio (Daily Indus Post), Aamer Mahmood (M/Kiran Digest) and Basheer Memon (D/Nijat).