Afzal Butt, Sarhandi elected PFUJ president, SG

QUETTA: The election process of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) for the two-year term 2017-19 was completed here on Monday. Afzal Butt and Ayub Jan Sarhandi were elected as the president and secretary general, respectively.

Also, 25 members of the PFUJ Federal Executive Council (FEC) have been elected. The three-day biennial delegates meeting (BDM) of the PFUJ was held in Quetta, which was participated by over 500 journalists, delegates and observers from across Pakistan.

The election was conducted by Election Committee Chairman Musa Farman and committee members – Esa Tareen, Zafar Baloch, Salman Ashraf, and Nadeem Awan at the Quetta Press Club on Monday. 249 delegates out of total 293 used their vote right.

According to the official results, released by the election committee chairman, Afzal Butt of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) secured 182 votes, while his opponent Kashif Hussain got 61 votes.

Four vice presidents were also elected, including Salim Shahid of Balochistan Union of Journalists (190 votes), Bakhatzada Yousafzai of Khyber Union of Journalists (175 votes), Khalid Khokhar of Hyderabad Union of Journalists (171 votes) and Muhammad Ameen Abbasi of Bahawalpur Union of Journalists (162 votes).

For the post of SG, Ayub Jan Sarhandi of KUJ secured 143 votes, while his opponent Shamsul Islam Naz got 102 votes. Waseem Farooq Shahid of Punjab Union of Journalists was elected as finance secretary by securing 152 votes, while Naeem Hanif could secure 77 votes.

Four assistant secretary general were also elected including Abdul Khaliq Rind of Balochistan Union of Journalists (176 votes), Yasir Ali Jatt of Gujranwala Union of Journalists (171 votes), Lala Asad Pathan of Sukkur Union of Journalists (170 votes) and Raja Muhammad Haroon of Abbottabad Union of Journalists (166 votes).

During the election, 25 members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) were also elected. The elected FEC members include: Afzal Baloch (195 votes), Nasir Malik (194), Nasir Zaidi (192), Ehsanul Haq (176), Shahzada Zulfiqar (176), Banaras Khan (173), Ibrahim Khan (172), Syed Bukhar Shah (167), Ashraf Khan (163), Nayyer Ali (163), Sehrash Khokhar (161), Arif Mahmood (161), Amir Sajjad Syed (160), Rana Naveed (160), Sardar Shafiq (161), Qarban Sati (158), Siddique Chaudhry (158), Mian Abid (157), Rana Shafiq (157), Lala Rahman Sammu (154), Shakil Ahmad (153), Javed Asghar Chaudhry (148), Rashid Aziz Hashmi (146), Liaquat Ali Khan (144), and Javed Siddiqui (143).

Ad Hoc Committee Chairman Muhammad Riaz chaired the BDM meeting at Quetta Press Club with Balochistan Union of Journalists was host of the meeting.

Afzal Butt said after his election that all capabilities would be utilised to tackle the challenges being faced by journalists including job security, independence of journalism and efforts would be made for eradication of contract system in the media organisations. He said the arrangements made for the BDM were memorable, adding that the attending of the meeting by more than 500 journalists testified that journalists have confidence in the PFUJ and they consider it the real representative body of journalists.

He said he would be ready to offer any sacrifice for maintaining the historical struggle of the PFUJ to forge unity among journalists. He paid rich tribute to the martyred journalist, Irshad Ahmed Mastoi. He demanded the government grant compensation to the heirs of the journalists equal to the dependants of the martyred security personnel. He also demanded repealing of clause of cyber crime bill that, he thought, eclipsed freedom of the press.