The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) executive committee in a meeting held here in the federal capital expressed concerns over delay by the federal as well as Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governments in payments of dues and called for early payments as the newspaper industry was facing grave financial challenges.
The meeting chaired by President of the APNS, Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani was briefed by Secretary General Sarmad Ali regarding the efforts made so far to convince the relevant governments for early payments of dues. He informed the meeting that the federal and the provincial governments had also made promises to release funds at the earliest.
The meeting also discussed the regional press committee’s report and observed that the Press Registrar had made the renewal process of the newspaper a very complicated and cumbersome task.
The meeting demanded to make the process hassle-free and practicable. The committee also expressed concerns that the Press Information Department (PID) and the provincial governments were ignoring magazines and journals in advertisements and they were facing hardships due to indifference by them.
The APNS executive committee meeting also agreed to hold the general council meeting on March 2, 2024 in Karachi.
The meeting was attended by Joint Secretary of the APNS, Syed Muhammad Munir Jilani, Finance Secretary, Shahab Zuberi, Javed Mehr Shamsi, Manzoor Rana, Mohsin Seyal, Waseem Ahmed, Ansar Mahmood Bhatti, Syed Ayaz Badshah, Rukhsana Saulat Saleemi, Naveed Niazi, Awais Khushnood, Humayon Gulzar, Imran Athar and Nasir Dad Baloch.
Faisal Zahid Malik (Daily Pakistan Observer) ,Kazi Asad Abid, Zahida Abbasi, Tahir Qureshi, Hamayon Tariq, Muhammad Younas Mahar, Syed Akbar Tahir and Bilal Mehmood participated in the meeting through zoom while Mehtab Khan, Khushnood Ali Khan, Ammar Khushnood, Mumtaz Phulputo and Atif Saeed attended the meeting as observers.
