APNS Calls for Immediate Clearance of Newspaper Dues, Seeks Simplification of Registration Process
Independent report
The Executive Committee of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), at a meeting chaired by President Senator Sarmad Ali, expressed serious concern over delays by the Press Information Department (PID), Islamabad, in clearing outstanding payments to newspapers, stating that the situation had pushed the print media into a severe financial crisis.
The committee demanded the immediate clearance of all outstanding dues to provide relief to newspapers facing mounting financial difficulties.
APNS members also expressed concern over the slow pace of newspaper registration and proposed simplifying the relevant rules and procedures in consultation with all stakeholders. The committee urged the Ministry of Information to convene a meeting of the joint committee with APNS at the earliest.
The Executive Committee further demanded that PID provide newspapers with complete details of payments made against their published advertisements. It also urged the department not to release advertisements to advertising agencies whose APNS membership had been suspended.
The committee expressed serious concern over delays by the Sindh Information Department in clearing bills for May and June, observing that the outstanding payments had created severe financial difficulties for newspapers and threatened their continued publication.
Members also criticised the lack of attention to the longstanding issues of newspapers and periodicals, pointing out that the volume of advertisements released by the Sindh Information Department had fallen to an extremely low level, contrary to the agreed allocation. They further observed that APNS member publications were being overlooked in the distribution of government advertisements.
The committee demanded an increase in the allocation of advertisements for the print media to enable newspapers to sustain their publications.
During the meeting, the Executive Committee approved associate membership applications submitted by Daily Ghaznavi, Rawalpindi, and Daily Qaum, Multan. It also approved provisional accreditation for Olive Digital (Private) Limited, Karachi.
The meeting was attended by APNS President Senator Sarmad Ali, Secretary General Muhammad Athar Qazi, Joint Secretary Mohsin Bilal, Finance Secretary Naveed Kashif, and members Mohsin Siyal (Daily Aftab), Bilal Farooqi (Daily Aghaz), Owais Razi (Weekly Azm), Fauzia Shaheen (Monthly Dastak), Najmuddin Sheikh (Daily Deyanat), Muhammad Younus Mehr (Daily Halchal), Kazi Asad Abid (Daily Ibrat), Syed Akbar Tahir (Daily Jasarat), Faisal Shahjahan (Daily Jiddat), Javed Mehr Shamsi (Daily Kaleem), Aamir Malik (Daily Mashriq, Quetta), Tahir Qureshi (Monthly Naye Ufaq), S.M. Munir Jilani (Daily Paigham), Mubashir Mir (Daily Pakistan), Humayun Gulzar (Daily Siyadat), Irfan Athar (Daily Tijarat) and Muhammad Irfan (Weekly Takbeer).
Waseem Ahmed (Daily Awam), Ansar Mahmood Bhatti (Monthly Centreline), Zahida Abbasi (Daily Nau Sijj) and Irfan (Daily Sahafat) participated through Zoom. Dr. Jabbar Khattak attended as an observer.
