| Press Release- Annual General Council Meeting 31.03.2010
Ref:APNS/2010/ April 1, 2010
The Editor,
……………….
……………….
Dear Sir,
Please creed the following news item and oblige:
The Annual General Council Meeting of the APNS held on March 31, 2010 has unanimously elected Hameed Haroon as President, Muhammad Aslam Kazi as Senior Vice President, Syed Sarmad Ali as Secretary General, Umer Mujib Shami as Vice President, Shimaila Matri Dawood as Joint Secretary and Syed Muhammad Munir Jilani as Finance Secretary of the Society.
The AGM held under the Chairmanship of Mujib-ur-Rahman Shami, President for the year 2009-10, unanimously approved the report of the Executive Committee for the preceding year as well as the Annual Accounts of the Society.
The General Council, attended by 228 members from across the country, formed an Election Commission headed by Mahmud-ul-Aziz, Altaf Hassan Qureshi and Kamal Ahmed Farooqui as members. The Election Commission conducted the election to the Executive Committee for the year 2010-11. Following were elected :
Karachi Daily Seats:
Aghaz, Business Recorder, Deyanat, Express, Kainat and Millat
Lahore Daily Seats:
Dawn, Jang, Khabrain, Musawat, Nawa-i-Waqt and Pakistan
Rawalpindi/Islamabad Daily Seats:
Asas (Rawalpindi) and Ausaf (Islamabad)
Balochistan Daily Seats:
Awam (Quetta) and Balochistan Times (Quetta)
Frontier Daily Seats:
Mashriq (Peshawar) and Wahdat (Peshawar)
Sindh excluding Daily Karachi:
Ibrat (Hyderabad ) and Kawish (Hyderabad)
Punjab (excluding Lahore/Rwp/Ibd.):
Aftab (Multan), Business Report (Faisalabad) and Paigham (Faislabad).
General Seats (Metropolitan Dailies):
Al Akhbar (Islamabad) and Pakistan Observer (Islamabad)
General Seats (Regional Dailies):
Kaleem (Sukkur) and Tijarat (Gujranawala)
Periodicals Seats:
Cricketer Monthly (Karachi), Kiran Monthly (Karachi), Naya Rukh Monthly (Karachi) and Roohani Digest Monthly (Karachi)
News & News Comments Periodical (Punjab / Frontier):
Azm Weekly (Lahore)
News & News Comments Periodical (Sindh / Balochistan):
Engineering Review Fortnightly (Karachi)
News & News Comments Periodical (General):
Dastak Monthly (Karachi)
The President -elect nominated Qudsia K. Khan on woman publishers seat.
The APNS Council considered the Govt.-Press relations, the state of newspaper industry as well as the problems faced by member publications. The General Council in a special resolution noted with concern that the Federal as well as provincial governments are victimizing some publications for their political affiliation which negates the freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
The General Council urged upon the Federal and provincial governments to stand by their commitments for freedom of press and refrain from victimizing the newspapers that do not follow the officials dictates. The Council was informed by Daily Times and Daily Aajkal that the Punjab Government has almost stopped the release of provincial government advertisements to their publications as a reaction to their editorial contents which is a gross violation of freedom of press. Likewise, the Daily Surkhab, Peshawar complained that the provincial government of NWFP has refused to release advertisements to the publication on account of their political stances against the ANP government. The publication was threatened that no provincial advertisements would be released to the publication unless it follows the position of the ANP Government. The members based in NWFP have also reported to the Council that the Information Department of NWFP have adopted discriminatory approach while releasing government advertisements which are being distributed to irregular publications while the senior and genuine publications were being completely ignored. This has resulted in the acute financial crunch to the newspaper industry in the province. Daily Azadi, Swat briefed the members that the Federal and provincial governments have not so far honored their commitments to compensate the publication for the loss incurred due to terrorist attacks and military action resulting in damages to their office premises. The General Council adopting a resolution urged upon the Federal Government, the Punjab Government and the Frontier Government to ensure that while releasing advertisements, the political affiliations and editorial contents of newspapers shall not be taken into account so that judicious, equitable and transparent distribution of government advertisements is ensured.
The General Council was addressed by Mujib-ur-Rahman Shami, Hameed Haroon, Syed Faseih Iqbal, Dr. Jabbar Khattak, Jamil Ather, Khushnood Ali Khan, Prof. S.B. Hassan, Altaf Hassan Qureshi, Mumtaz A. Tahir, Mumtaz Sadiq, Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, Qudsia K. Khan, Fauzia Shaheen and other members across the country.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
( Dr. Tanvir A. Tahir )
Executive Director
APNS
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