Peshawar: Newspapers have been closed for 30 years, ‘Who will give us jobs now?’
“I have not received my salary for the last 3 months. I was hoping that we would get something this month, but I did not know that if we get the salary, the doors of earning halal sustenance for our children will be closed.”
30-year-old Mohammad Kaleem has been working as a journalist in Peshawar for the past 10 years. He used to work as a reporter with a local Peshawar newspaper, Roznama Surkhab, but after the closure of the 30-year-old Roznama Sarkhab by the Information Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he is worried about his future and that of his children. .
On August 3 this year, a notification was issued by the Information Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accusing the management of daily Sarkhab of copying and pasting the news and calling it a violation of Section 19 and the Director General Information and Public Relations of the newspaper. Canceled the declaration.
Kalim said that he is currently going through a difficult time. Household responsibilities, four children’s school expenses and rampant inflation are hanging over their heads like a sword as media organizations across the country, including Peshawar, are in dire straits and finding a new job in this situation is less than a miracle. do not have.
He says that 6 people including him were working in the newspaper who have all become unemployed. They include a photographer, 3 editors and 2 reporters. Kaleem claims that the current caretaker provincial government has shut down the daily Surkhab as a target of political revenge. According to him, daily Surkhab belongs to former provincial minister Shaukat Yousafzai’s brother Liaqat Yousafzai, so its declaration has been canceled by accusing the newspaper of copy-paste.
Liaquat Yousafzai, owner of the newspaper, said: “This newspaper does not belong to former provincial minister Shaukat Yousafzai. I am the editor of this newspaper for the last 13 years and I am aware of journalistic values. Surkhab has its own editor desk and reporters whose job is to bring and publish news.”
On the other hand, after the closure of daily Sarkhab, former provincial minister Shaukat Yousafzai said in a statement to the media: “My brother is being targeted for political revenge. The newspaper’s only fault is that its chief editor is my brother.”
According to him, the caretaker government had stopped government advertisements five months ago due to which the salaries of the employees are not being paid.
Mohammad Kaleem demanded the caretaker provincial government not to make Sarkhab a target of political revenge and restore the newspaper’s declaration keeping in mind the plight of the employees so that they can avoid economic hardships.
‘Journalists will not be allowed to be unemployed by closing the newspaper’
On August 4, 2023, on the call of Khyber Union of Journalists, the journalist community protested against the closure of daily Sarkhab. A large number of journalists including leaders of Khyber Union of Journalists and Peshawar Press Club participated in the demonstration. The protesters were holding placards with slogans written against the provincial government and the closure of the newspaper and cancellation of the declaration.
Addressing the protestors, former president of Peshawar Press Club, M. Riaz, said that the media industry is already suffering from a crisis, in which a newspaper was closed and dozens of working journalists were made unemployed, which is a sad fact.
Peshawar Press Club President Arshad Aziz Malik said that this has not happened even in the government of a dictator as has been done in this caretaker provincial government. Journalists will not be allowed to be jobless by closing down the newspaper, while protesting against this decision will be done on every platform and voice will be raised: “If we have to go to court, we will go there because A newspaper worker is very important for us. We will not let him be unemployed.”
President of Khyber Union of Journalists Nasir Hussain said that August 3 is the darkest day in the history of journalism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when a newspaper was not only closed as a target of political revenge, but its declaration was also cancelled. . He said that the provincial government should refrain from closing the hearth of the houses of activist journalists for the sake of their political revenge. He demanded that the decision to close down the newspaper should be withdrawn immediately, otherwise the scope of the protest would be expanded.
The position of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Department
On the other hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Department Secretary Mukhtiar Khan said: “We have taken a decision according to the law.” If any institution does not follow the law laid down by the Information and Broadcasting Department, action will be taken against it.”
According to him, the circulation of daily Surkhab was shown to be around 60 thousand, but the number of copies of the newspaper is less than 251. Similarly, most of the material published in the newspaper is copied from other newspapers which is a violation of the law.
Explaining the section 19 in the law, the information secretary said that the law empowers the institution that if a newspaper publishes material by copying and pasting from another institution, action will be taken against it. The Information Department also issued a show cause notice to the daily Sarkhab, but due to not getting a satisfactory response, action had to be taken against them.
According to the information secretary, apart from daily Sarkhab, six more newspapers have also been issued show cause notices for violation, but he did not clarify what violation the said six newspapers have committed.
He rejected the allegation of political revenge and said that it is not a political matter. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Department is a government agency which works within the law while the agency has all the evidences due to which the declaration of the said newspaper has been revoked.
The third way
In this regard, the officials of All Pakistan Newspaper Association were contacted to know their position, but no response was received from them. However, an official of the All Pakistan Newspaper Society, on condition of anonymity, said that the said newspaper has been closed by the ruling circles because Shaukat Yousafzai, the brother of the owner of the newspaper, Liaquat Yousafzai, and former provincial minister Shaukat Yousafzai, has joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf. He refused to part ways.
They claim that Shaukat Yousafzai is currently residing in the US and it would be premature to say anything about revising the decision to cancel the newspaper’s declaration. According to him, working journalists have been affected by the closure of the newspaper, so they demand that the Information Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should review its decision and find a way to provide an opportunity to the employees working in this newspaper to work again. go
Source: TNN
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