After the approval of the newly appointed chairman of the board of directors Naeem Bukhari, the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTVC) has sacked eight contractual employees.

As per the order, PTV was short of finances as there were around 3,560 regular employees in the organization. "It has been decided in principle that the number of contract employees on high salaries has to be drastically reduced. This has the approval of the federal minister for information and broadcasting as well as the information secretary," the order said.

'This final approval has been given with the permission/approval of the Board of Directors, PTVC' the order also contained a note from Bukhari.

The employees include in-house analyst and former Pakistan cricket team captain Rashid Latif, Khawar Azhar, chief of marketing strategy and content, Muhammad Tahir Mushtaq, a chief human resource officer, and Quatrina Hosain, chief of news & current affairs.

Nasir Naqvi, chief technology officer; Khurram Anwar, executive producer, current affairs; Asim Baig, head of the strategy and corporate communications and retired Col Muhammad Nadeem Niazi, GM security, have also been terminated.

In September, the Islamabad High Court annulled the appointment of PTV Board of Directors chairman Arshad Khan. The IHC also issued orders that Khan not be appointed again in the state broadcaster.

In November, Bukhari was appointed PTV Board of Directors for a period of three years on contract.