APNS office-bearers elected for 2025-26 term

Ag APP

KARACHI: The annual meeting of the General Council of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) was held at the APNS House, Karachi, on Saturday, and unanimously elected Sarmad Ali as APNS 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 of the society.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani, outgoing president of the society. The council unanimously approved the report of the Executive Committee for the year 2024-2025 as well as the annual accounts of the society for the year 2024.

The General Council meeting, attended by 107 members from across the country, formed an election commission headed 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 year 2025–26.

Following dailies and magazines were elected unopposed as members of the Executive Committee of the APNS for the next tenure: 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, and Daily Aftab (Multan); Daily Business Report, Daily Paigham, Daily City42, Daily Pakistan Observer, Daily Halchal, and Daily Sayadat were elected on daily seats; and Monthly Dastak, Weekly Family, Monthly Naey Ufaq, Monthly Naya Rukh, Monthly Centre Line, and Fortnightly Ibrat were elected on periodical seats.

The new Executive Committee elected Mrs. Zahida Abbasi of Daily Nau Sijj, Karachi. to the woman-publisher seat.

Due to the sad demise of the brother of Javed Mehr Shamsi, he could not attend the meeting. The president co-opted Daily Kaleem Sukkur as a member of the Executive Committee on Sindh seat, excluding Karachi dailies’ seat. The newly elected Executive Committee appreciated the performance of the election commission for conducting the elections.

The members at the annual council meeting strongly condemned the continuous ban on government advertisements for Daily Dawn and termed it a policy of arm-twisting and using advertisements as a tool to dictate the editorial policy of the newspaper.

The meeting noted that the due quantum of advertisement for a newspaper is not a privilege but a right as the government releases its advertisements for transparency in its functioning and to ensure “people’s right to know”.

The payment of the government advertisements is made from the public exchequer; hence, the government advertisement cannot be issued or denied as per the choice of any government. The APNS has always asked for just, fair and transparent distribution of government advertisements.

The council also expressed its concern about the continuous stoppage of government advertisements to Daily Sahafat and urged the Ministry of Information to withdraw the ban.

The meeting in a resolution expressed its profound concern about the state of print media due to the present economic situation, which has caused a severe financial crisis for newspapers, many of which are on the verge of collapse. In this situation, the media expected support from the government to brave the financial crunch. It urged upon the new federal government to implement the decision Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved in his last tenure to increase the government advertisement rates.

The members of annual general meeting requested the federal and provincial governments to pay the long outstanding dues of the newspaper industry, increase the quantum of advertisements, and allocate a separate share of print media in the advertising budget so that the newspaper industry would be able to survive in the present situation.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the office-bearers of the new Executive Committee of the APNS.

He felicitated the newly elected president of the APNS, Senator Sarmad Ali, Senior Vice President Nazafreen Saigol, General Secretary Athar Qazi, Vice President Shahab Zuberi, Joint Secretary Mohsin Bilal, and Finance Secretary Naveed Kashif on their election.

He expressed the hope that the newly elected office-bearers would play an effective role in the APNS for maintaining high-quality journalism. He was hopeful that under the leadership of newly elected office-bearers, the APNS would continue to uphold journalistic values and its constructive role in the country.

The PM said the government considered the media as the fourth pillar of the state and encouraged constructive criticism of media for improvement in governance.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar also congratulated the newly elected office-bearers of the Executive Committee of the APNS.

He extended felicitation to President Sarmad Ali, Senior Vice President Nazafreen Sehgal, Secretary General Athar Qazi, Vice President Shahab Zuberi, Joint Secretary Mohsin Bilal and Finance Secretary Naveed Kashif.

The minister said the APNS set remarkable journalistic traditions by always playing a major role in promoting responsible and independent journalism.

The media is an important pillar in any democratic society, he said while lauding the role of the APNS in promoting democracy, upholding journalistic values and raising awareness among the public.

He said it was a priority of the government to resolve the issues faced by the media industry, assuring all-out cooperation in this regard. Tarar said the government is committed to promoting freedom of the press and resolving the media industry issues.

He expressed the hope that the APNS would continue to play its traditional role in upholding journalistic values, promoting the development of the media industry, and providing accurate information to the masses.

In a statement, Federal Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Ambreen Jan and Principal Information Officer Mobashir Hassan also congratulated the newly elected office-bearers of the APNS Executive Committee.