Letter to editor,
Newspapers industry has three main professional bodies looking after the interests of the newspapers managements, editors and journalists and workers. These bodies are known as APNS, CPNE and PFUJ at the national level.
Office-bearers of these professional bodies of the newspapers industry or for that matter any other professional organization in general and the heads of these bodies are supposed to be the role models for others while looking after their interests and setting examples for others to be dealing fairly ,justly and legally with the journalists and other workers employed in theirs and other organizations.
Cutting the bitter story short, if the President of the APNS or for that matter CPNE do not do justice with journalists and workers employed in his newspapers then where they are supposed to go and at whose door they are supposed to knock for securing justice.
No doubt, the newspapers managements/ owners have the right to hire and fire the journalists and other workers . But in all fairness this should be done within legal limits, those fired should be paid their dues and then showed the doors.
According to the reports, the management of an Urdu newspaper published from Lahore and one of the chain of newspapers owned by the CPNE President has during last couple of months has fired about 20 journalists and workers . And this has been done without paying them their dues, running into some lakhs, quite unjustifiably, immorally and illegally.
The pertinent question which arises here as to where those who have been rendered jobless should go to seek justice and get their dues at least paid when the owner of the newspapers concerned himself heads CPNE and as such not a role model for others, please. Thanks.
OSAMA BIN ASIM, RAWALPINDI