APNS panel chastises Sindh govt over delays (page 9)

Suspends publication of all Sindh govt ads from today onwards

KARACHI: The Sindh Committee of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has strongly condemned the inordinate delay by the Sindh Information Department to clear long outstanding dues as well as dues relating to 2015 despite clear assurances by the Sindh government and the APNS notice to the adviser to the chief minister on information.

In a meeting on Monday, the members expressed their dismay over the non-payment of dues of the member publications based in Sindh for the period from 2010 to December 2014 and the dues for current year.

According to an APNS statement, the issue related to Rs530 million dues of member publications remains unattended despite requests to the chief minister and his adviser, and the information secretary, resulting in the accumulation of more than Rs630 million in dues, which include bills amounting to Rs100 million for the current year.

“Due to the non-payment of the staggering amount, the financial survival of APNS members has been irretrievably compromised and continues to be threatened,” the APNS statement said.

In light of this, the APNS Sindh Committee has decided to suspend all Sindh government advertisements with effect from today (December 15). It warned ad agencies that their accreditation will be terminated if they released any Sindh government ads to APNS or non-APNS publications. The committee also warned publications that they would be barred from membership if they decided to publish Sindh government ads.

The meeting was attended by Javed Mehr Shamsi, Sarmad Ali, Ilyas Shakir, Zeeshan Butt, Dr Jabbar Khattak, Kazi Asad Abid, Aijazul Haq, Bilal Farooqui, Ghulam Nabi Chandio, Mukhtar Aqil, Dr Waqar Yousuf Azeemi, Younus Mehr, Najamuddin Sheikh, Rafiq Ahmed Pirzada, Syed Hamid Hussain Abedi, Muhammad Saleem, Younus Riaz, Zahida Abbasi, Faisal Zahid Malik, Waheed Jamal, Kazi Sajjad Akbar, Abdul Rahman Mangrio, Aamer Mahmood  and Basheer Memon.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2015.