IFJ concerned over newspaper owners’ ‘stalling tactics’
PESHAWAR: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expressed concern over a new effort by newspaper owners to secure a judicial order that declares the law on wages and working conditions in the industry were contradictory to constitutional freedoms.
According to reports received from the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an IFJ affiliate, a bench of the High Court of Sindh in Karachi held a hearing of the petition emanating from the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) and a newspaper group on Tuesday.
“The IFJ is appalled that these long-running stalling tactics by newspaper owners are obstructing Pakistan’s journalists in their quest for a fair deal, and are posing a needless challenge to their professional security and dignity,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said in a statement. At the centre of the petition is the Newspaper Employees’ (Conditions of Service) Act, which was passed by the National Assembly in 1973. The owners have argued that the law, which singles out the newspaper industry for a statutory determination of wages, is discriminatory, and that it goes against constitutional provisions on free speech as well as the liberty of commerce.
Source: Daily Times
Date:2/25/2010
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