APNS forms committee on ads issue
KARACHI – All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has strongly condemned the ban of government advertisements to Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Publications and formed an action committee to chalk out further course of actions for restoration of ads and ensure their equitable and judicious flow to genuine publications, stated a spokesman of the Society.
In a resolution, APNS flayed coercive policy of government against Press intending to curb freedom of Press by using advertisement as a lever to coerce newspapers.
APNS Secretary-General Mohammad Aslam Kazi announced the decisions taken at the meeting of APNS Executive Committee at Islamabad under chairmanship of its President, Arif Nizami. He stated that members of the Executive Committee expressed their concern over strained relations between government and the fourth estate.
The Committee, in a special resolution, noted that government of General Pervez Musharraf, despite tall claims of free Press in the country, has embarked upon a policy to stifle and curb freedom of expression and Press in an effort to silent dissenting voice against the policies being adopted by government. Press being the watch-dog of the interests of people and the vehicle to disseminate news and views has always been the first target of anti-democratic policies of government. The resolution noted that the Jamali government has focused Nawa-i-Waqt and The Nation for its anti-Press actions and has stopped all advertisements released by Federal and provincial governments to force a financial crunch against the publications so that these could be compelled to bow down and accept dictates of government. APNS is of considered opinion that such acts are tantamount to curbing the Press freedom and contrary to the constitutional safeguard provided to the Press.
APNS Executive Committee has decided to resist the above anti-Press policy with firm resolve and formed an Action Committee to evolve its strategy and plan further actions to brave the situation and compel government to reverse its policies against Press and ensure that of expression and Press should be safeguarded in the country and restore government advertisements to Nawa-i-Waqt group of publications and other newspapers.
The Action Committee would consider and finalize different course of actions including one-day strike of publications, advertisement campaign to educate public opinion on policies of government, refusal of government advertisement as a protest by all publications, a march of editors and publishers from APNS Secretariat to Mazar-e-Quaid-i-Azam and other appropriate measures in this regard. The Action Committee is comprised of Syed Faseih Iqbal, Sr. Vice-President, Muhammad Aslam Kazi, Secretary-General, Hameed Haroon, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami, Jamil Ather and Arshad A. Zuberi.
The Action Committee was directed to finalize and implement its action and report to the Annual General Council of the Society. The meeting adopted the annual report of the Executive Committee and the accounts of the Society for preceding year and decided to hold Annual General Council on March 31, 2004 at Karachi wherein elections of Executive Committee and office-bearers of the Society for year 2004-2005. It was also decided to convene Extraordinary General Council meeting on March 31, 2004 to consider proposals to amend the constitution of the Society.
The Executive Committee approved the report of the Scrutiny-cum-Enrollment Committee and granted full membership of Daily Din Rawalpindi, Daily Ummat Karachi, Daily The Statesman Peshawar and Monthly Dastak Karachi. It also decided to suspend membership of those publications who failed to provide regular copies of their issues as provided by the APNS constitution. The Executive Committee also granted associate membership to Daily Pakistan Peshawar and Daily Business Recorder Islamabad.
The Secretary-General further stated that on the recommendation of the Advertising Committee, the Executive Committee approved provisional accreditation to M/s Ablaze Communications Karachi, M/s Blaze Lahore. M/s Cross Check Communications (Pvt) Ltd Karachi and M/s TNI Communications Karachi. It also approved associateship for M/s Insync Marketing and Advertising (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi. The provisional accreditation of M/s Corporate and Marketing Communications (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi was confirmed by the Executive Committee.
The meeting was attended by the following:
Arif Nizami President (Nawa-i-Waqt), Syed Faseih Iqbal, Sr. Vice-President, (Balochistan Times), Mumtaz A. Tahir, Vice-President (Aftab), Muhammad Aslam Kazi, Secretary-General, (Kawish), Mushtaq A. Qureshi, Joint Secretary (Naey Ufaq), Waqar Yousuf Azeemi, Finance Secretary, (Roohani Digest), Wasim Ahmad (Awam, Quetta), Dr. Jabbar Khattak (Awami Awaz), Anwar Farooqi (Aghaz), Arshad A. Zuberi (Business Recorder), Abdul Rashid Ghazi (Business Report), Najmuddin Sheikh (Deyanat), Masood Hamid (Dawn), Iqbal Sidhu (Din), Ms Qudsia Khan (Financial Post), Kazi Asad Abid (Ibrat), Syed Samad Ali (Jang), Javed Mehr Shamsi (Kaleem), Aamir Mahmood (Kiran), Asif Qayyum (Mashriq, Peshawar), Syed Sajjad Bokhan (Mussawat), Mujeeb-ur-Rahman Shami (Pakistan), S. M. Munir Jillani (Paigham), Khushnood Ali Khan (Sahafat), Khalid Mahmood Shah (Shahrag-e-Pakistan), Jamil Ather (Tijarat), Riaz Ahmed Mansuri (The Cricketer) and Pir Sufaid Shah Hamdard (Wahdat), Mahtab Khan Abbasi (Ausaf), Abid Abdullah (Express), Ghulam Akbar (Al-Akhbar), Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah (Kainat, Karachi) and Adeeb Javedani (Moon Digest) attended the meeting as special observers.”
Source: The Nation
Date:3/17/2004
” 
” 
” 
” 
