PAKISTAN MEDIA
The Annual Meeting of the APNS General Council, held on Saturday at APNS House, Karachi, unanimously elected the following officials:
Sarmad Ali as President, Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani as Senior Vice President, Shahab Zuberi as Vice President, Muhammad Athar Kazi as Secretary General, Mohsin Bilal as Joint Secretary and Naveed Kashif as Finance Secretary
The AGM was chaired by Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani, the Society’s president. During the meeting, the Council unanimously approved the Executive Committee’s report for 2024-2025 and the Society’s Annual Accounts for the year 2024.
The General Council, attended by 107 members from across the country, established an Election Commission led by Mumtaz Ahmed Phulpoto, with Syed Irfan Shah and Ali Bin Younus as members. The Election Commission conducted the election of the Executive Committee for the 2025-26 term.
The following dailies and magazines were elected unopposed to the Executive Committee of the APNS for the next term:
Daily Newspapers: Daily Jasarat, Daily Jiddat (Karachi), Daily Business Recorder, Daily Aghaz, Daily Dawn, Daily Deyanat, Daily Khabrain, Daily Times, Daily Jang, Daily Dunya, Daily Tijarat, Daily Pakistan (Lahore), Daily Ausaf, Daily Sahafat, Daily Awam (Quetta), Daily Mashriq (Quetta), Daily Wahdat, Daily Mashriq (Peshawar), Daily Kawish, Daily Aftab (Multan), Daily Business Report, Daily Paigham, Daily City42, Daily Pakistan Observer, Daily Halchal, Daily Sayadat
Periodicals: Monthly Dastak, Weekly Family (Nawa-e-Waqt Group), Monthly Naey Ufaq, Monthly Naya Rukh, Monthly Centre Line, Fortnightly Ibrat
Additionally, Mrs. Zahida Abbasi of Daily Nau Sijj, Karachi was elected to the Woman Publisher seat on the Executive Committee.
Due to the sad demise of Javed Mehr Shamsi’s brother, he could not attend the AGM. As a result, the President co-opted Daily Kaleem Sukkur to the Executive Committee on the Sindh (Excluding Karachi) Dailies Seat.
The newly elected Executive Committee expressed its appreciation for the Election Commission’s efforts in conducting the elections.
During the Annual Council meeting, members strongly condemned the ongoing ban on government advertisements for Daily Dawn, labeling it as a form of coercion and an attempt to influence editorial policy. They emphasized that government advertisements are not a privilege, but a right, as they are funded by the public exchequer. These ads should be distributed transparently and fairly, ensuring the “People’s Right to Know.”
The Council also expressed concern over the continuous stoppage of government advertisements to Daily Sahafat and urged the Ministry of Information to lift the ban.
In a resolution, the AGM expressed deep concern about the state of the print media due to the current economic crisis, which has placed many newspapers on the verge of collapse. In light of this, the media industry sought support from the government to weather the financial challenges. The AGM urged the new Federal Government to implement the decision made by Mian Shahbaz Sharif during his previous tenure to increase government advertisement rates.
The members of the AGM also called on the federal and provincial governments to clear long-outstanding dues to the newspaper industry, increase the volume of government advertisements, and allocate a specific share of the advertising budget for print media to help ensure the industry’s survival in these challenging times. – PR
