The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) annual general meeting (AGM) has re-elected Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman of Jang Group of publications, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami of Daily Pakistan, Lahore.
Inquilab Matri of Daily Millat Gujrati, Kazi Asad Abid of Daily Ibrat and Anwar Farooqui of Daily Aghaz as President, Senior Vice President, Vice President, Secretary General and Finance Secretary of the APNS. Masood Hamid of Daily Dawn was elected Joint Secretary of the Society.
Earlier, the Annual General Council chaired by President Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman approved the report of the Executive Committee for the preceding year as well as the annual accounts of the Society.
The General Council attended by 181 members from across the county formed an Election Commission headed by Younus Riaz (Daily Beopar), Ghulam Nabi Chandio (Daily Pak) and Ikram Ghazi (Monthly Chilman) as members. The Election Commission conducted the election to the Executive Committee for 2006-07.
KARACHI DAILY SEATS (SIX SEATS) Daily Aghaz, Daily Awami Awaz, Daily Dawn, Daily Deyanat, Daily Qaumi Akhbar, Daily Millat.
LAHORE DAILY SEATS (SIX SEATS) Daily Musawat, Daily Jang, Daily Nawa-e-Waqt, Daily Khabrain, Daily Pakistan and Daily Business Recorder.
RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD DAILY SEATS (TWO SEATS) Daily Ausaf and Daily Sahafat
FRONTIER DAILY SEATS (TWO SEATS) Daily Jihad and Daily Wahdat
BALOCHISTAN DAILY SEATS (TWO SEATS) Daily Awam, Daily Balochistan Times
SINDH, EXCLUDING DAILY KARACHI, (TWO SEATS) Daily Kaleem, Sukkur, and Daily Kawish, Hyderabad.
PUNJAB, EXCLUDING LAHORE/ RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD, (THREE SEATS) Daily Aftab, Multan, Daily Business Report, Faisalabad, Daily Paigham, Faisalabad.
GENERAL SEATS (METROPOLITAN DAILIES), (TWO SEATS) Daily Kainat, Karachi and Daily Times, Lahore.
GENERAL SEATS (REGIONAL DAILIES) (TWO SEATS) Daily Tijarat, Sargodha, Daily Balochistan Express, Quetta.
PERIODICALS SEATS (FOUR SEATS) Monthly Kiran, Karachi, Monthly Naey Ufaq, Karachi, Monthly Roohani Digest, Karachi, Monthly The Cricketer, Karachi.
NEWS & NEWS COMMENTS (PUNJAB/FRONTIER), (ONE SEAT) Monthly Moon Digest, Lahore.
NEWS & NEWS COMMENTS (SINDH/BALOCHISTAN), (ONE SEAT) Ibrat Magazine.
NEWS & NEWS COMMENTS (GENERAL), (ONE SEAT) Monthly Dastak, Karachi.
The Executive Committee also elected Qudsia K. Khan, Daily Financial Post, Karachi, on woman publishers seat.
The General Council reviewed the conditions prevailing in the industry and observed that during the year under review, the press-government relations witnessed deterioration and became less cordial than in the last years. The ministry remained consistently indifferent over the pending issues relating to the print media, especially the amendments to the Freedom of Information Ordinance and the formation of Press Council of Pakistan.
The Freedom of Information Ordinance was rejected by the APNS and the CPNE proposing wide ranging amendments to the freedom of information law. The Council rioted that despite a lapse of over two years, the Cabinet Division and the Information Ministry were unable to provide the promised amendments to the rules.
The Council also pointed out that the agreement between the government and the APNS must be honoured which relate to amendments to NECOSA-73 formation of Press Council, amendments to the Freedom of Information Ordinance, cross-media amendments and amendments to the Defamation Ordinance.
The General Council in another resolution reminded that Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi had assured to advise the Punjab government to clear the dues of member publications relating to special supplements, but despite the assurances, the Punjab government has not yet cleared the dues. Furthermore, the Punjab Information Department has also failed to release normal payments against advertisement bills and these payments were delayed for months.
In another resolution, the Annual General Council of the APNS endorsed the actions taken by the Wage Board Committee and the Executive Committee against the arbitrary Wage Board Awards in the Lahore High Court and the Sindh High Court challenging the vires of the NECOSA-1973 and the 6th and 7th Wage Boards.
The members at the AGM reiterated their resolve not to implement the 7th Wage Board Award and are prepared to take all political and legal steps to get the NECOSA-73 scraped from the statute book and withdrawal of 7th Wage Board Award. The Annual General Council directed all its members, office-bearers and Executive Committee not to accept the formation of 8th Wage Board and no member would be nominated on the incoming Wage Board. The AGM authorised the Executive Committee to take disciplinary action against any member that violates the directives contained in the resolution.
The APNS Council in a special resolution expressed profound grief over the sad demise of S.H. Hashmi, pioneer of advertising in the country. The Council paid glowing tributes to the services rendered by Hashmi to the advertising profession and, in particular, to the newspaper industry for which, he would be long remembered as a great friend of media.
The Annual General Council expressed grief over various colleagues, friends and immediate relatives of members, including Masood Khan, GM, Daily Qaumi Akhbar, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Uncle of Syed Ayaz Badshah, Umer Qureshi, wife of Mahmood Haroon, Mrs Razia Fakhre Matri, mother of Inquilab Matri, Tariq Farooq, publisher, Daily Jehan Numa, Lahore and son of Sharif Farooq, the sister-in-law of Kazi Asad Abid, the uncle of Aamir Mahmood, Chaudhry Abdul Ahmed, brother of Ghazi Abdul Rashid and mother of Mujeeb-ur-Rahman Shami.
The General Council was addressed by the members, including Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, Arif Nizami, Hameed Haroon, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman Shami, Syed Faseih Iqbal, Jamil Athar, Mumtaz A. Tahir, Syed Sajjad Bokhari, Muhammad Aslam Kazi, Mushtaq A. Qureshi, Dr Jabber Khattak, Khushnood Ali Khan, Usman Arab Sati, Rukhsana Saulat Saleemi, Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard, Waqar Yousuf Azeemi, Sardar Mehtab Khan and Kazi Asad Abid.-PR