KARACHI,(Parliament Times): A meeting of the Standing Committee of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) was held on Friday under the chairmanship of Acting President Kazim Khan. Standing committee members from all over the country participated in it through video link.
The meeting discussed in detail the organizational issues including the proposed legislation of PMDA, establishment of a joint committee of government and stakeholders, government press relations, situation of payment of dues. The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) has expressed grave concern over the news of removal of some newspapers from the media list by the federal government and has maintained that if a regular newspaper is removed from the media list, the CPNE will protest.
The meeting expressed grave concern over the unfair distribution of government advertisements in Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the federation, and the extremely slow pace of direct payments to newspapers. It has demanded immediate payment of dues to regional and local newspapers including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. It was stated in the meeting that as a result of the efforts of CPNE, the government’s move to make 85% payments to newspapers under the 85/15 formula is welcome.
CPNE Acting President Kazim Khan, Acting Secretary General Amir Mahmood, Vice Presidents Sardar Khan Niazi, Irshad Ahmed Arif, Ikram Sehgal, Anwar Sajidi, Former Secretary General Ejazul Haq, Dr. Jabbar Khattak, Finance Secretary Hamid Hussain Abidi, Information Secretary Abdul Rehman Mangrio, Joint Secretaries Tahir Farooq, Ghulam Nabi Chandio, Arif Baloch, Tanveer Shaukat, Shakeel Ahmad Turabi, Senior members Ayaz Khan, Maqsood Yousufi, Khalil-ur-Rehman, Abdul Khaliq Ali, Mohammad Tahir, Muhammad Akmal Chauhan, Faqir Manthar Mangrio, Zulfiqar Ahmad Rahat, Sher Muhammad Khawar, Ali Hamza Afghan, Muhammad Irfan, and several members including Mehmood Alam Khalid, Muhammad Owais Razi, Waqas Tariq Farooq, Yahya Khan Saduzai, Zia Tanoli and Manza Siham participated through video link.