The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has provisionally withdrawn protest day call for Saturday (June 25) on the assurance of the Prime Minister that the issue of ban on government advertisements would be settled amicably. APNS secretary-general Kazi Asad Abid has announced the decision to defer protest day taken at the executive committee meeting held at Islamabad under the chairmanship of its acting president Mujeebur Rahman Shami.
The executive committee was pleased to note that on the initiative of APNS president Mir Shakilur Rahman, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has very kindly invited the APNS executive committee to meet him at the Prime Minister house on June 21 to discuss the situation arising out of complete ban on the government advertisements for Daily Nawa-i-Waqt/The Nation and curtailment of advertisements to Daily Ausaf, Daily Sahafat, Daily Business Report, Monthly Shahrag-e-Pakistan and other publications.
The delegation apprised the Prime Minister that the use of advertisements as a lever to victimise dissenting press is contrary to the press freedom enshrined in the Constitution and negates claims of the government that the press in Pakistan enjoys maximum freedom in his tenure.
The delegation recalled that during the Premiership of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the APNS and the CPNE were assured that the government ads as weapon will not be used against the press.
It regretted that the assurances are yet to be honoured. The executive committee appreciated that the Prime Minister sympathetically heard the APNS point of view and assured that the issue would be settled amicably. He advised Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to navigate into the matter to evolve a settlement.
The executive committee also noted that the Prime Minister during the lunch hosted after the formal meeting had stated that a house committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to discuss problems being faced by the newspaper industry, including the wage board issue.
The committee has been advised to consult parties in dispute before arriving at a decision. The Prime Minister assured that the terms of reference of the committee would be broader and include problems and conditions of the newspaper industry as a whole.
The Prime Minister desired that the APNS would extend support and co-operation to the committee. The executive committee hoped that the committee on newspaper industry will discuss issues threadbare and would consider ground realities and conditions prevailing in the industry, keeping in view the new market parameters while arriving at a conclusion. The executive committee in a resolution reiterated that the settlement of the wage board issue was only possible if the Newspapers Employees Act 1973 was abolished or substantially amended keeping in view the APNS proposals. The executive committee directed the APNS wage board committee to make due preparations to ensure meaningful presentation before the house committee headed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
The meeting of the executive committee was followed by a reception hosted in honour of visiting delegates of Indian Newspapers Society. Mujeebur Rahman Shami, Hameed Haroon, Pradeep Guha, President Indian Newspapers Society and Kazi Asad Abid spoke at the occasion.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, officials of Information Ministry, S. H. Hashmi, heads of advertising agencies and other prominent personalities of media were also present. After the dinner, prominent folk singer, Madam Abida Parveen enthralled the audience with her mystic poetry.
The meeting was attended by the following:
Mujeebur Rahman Shami, Senior Vice President, Inquilab Matri, Vice President, Kazi Asad Abid, Secretary General, Riaz Ahmed Mansuri, Joint Secretary, Anwar Farooqui, Finance Secretary, Mumtaz A. Tahir (Daily Aftab), Mehtab Khan (Daily Ausaf), Waseem Ahmed (Daily Awam, Quetta), Dr Jabbar Khattak (Daily Awami Awaz), Arshad A. Zuberi (Daily Business Recorder), Abdul Rashid Ghazi (Daily Business Report, Faisalabad), Syed Faseih Iqbal, (Daily Balochistan Times), Ms Fauzia Shaheen (Monthly Dastak), Masood Hamid (Daily Dawn), Najamuddin Sheikh (Daily Deyanat), Iqbal Sidhu (Daily Din), Ms Qudsia K. Khan(Daily Financial Post), Syed Sarmad All (Daily Jang), Javed Mehr Shamsi (Daily Kaleem), Muhammad Aslam Kazi (Daily Kawish), Aamir Mehmood (Monthly Kiran), Syed Ayaz Badshah (Daily Mashriq, Peshawar), Arif Nizami (Nawa-i-Waqt/The Nation), S. M. Munir Jillani (Daily Paigham), Khushnood Ali Khan (Daily Sahafat) Khalid Mehmood Shah (Monthly Shahrag-e-Pakistan) and Irfan Ather (Daily Tijarat).
Altaf Hasan Qureshi (Monthly Urdu Digest) and Sharif Farooq (Daily Jehad) attended on special request.-PR