A meeting of the executive committee of APNS was held on Saturday to discuss the action of the Multan Hawkers Union (MHU) against Daily Jang and its coercive attempts to increase commission to hawkers. APNS President Sarmad Ali briefed members about discussions with the general secretary of the MHU, adding that they reached an agreement to try and resolve issues through dialogue until January 5, 2013. Hameed Haroon, former APNS president, also spoke about his discussions with the MHU general secretary, the Multan situation and how the APNS should collectively counter the situation in short and long terms. After discussion, the following resolution was passed: The executive committee of the APNS is unanimous in condemning the unilateral strike by the Multan Hawkers Union while negotiations were continuing with the hawkers federation. The executive committee decided to invite Tikka Khan and Shaikh Umer Din, general secretary and deputy general secretary of the Akhbar Farosh Federation respectively, to explain why the MHU took a unilateral decision in defiance and contradiction of the Federation’s decision. The role of Umer Din, deputy general secretary of the federation, would also be reviewed in instigating and leading this rebellion against his own general secretary.
The committee expressed their resolve to stand by the Jang Group in this unilateral action against it by the MHU. The executive committee decided to form two sub-committees: to negotiate with the hawkers federation; and the second body will be charged with developing a long term alternate distribution system. The meeting was attended by Sarmad Ali, Masood Hamid (secretary general), Javed Mehr Shamsi (finance secretary), Hameed Haroon (ex-officio), Shahrukh Hassan (Jang), Minhaj Kazmi (Khabrain), Arshad A Zuberi (Business Recorder), Abbas Abdul Latif (Nawa-i-Waqt), Najamuddin Sheikh (Deyanat), Mukhtar Aqil (Jurat, Khi), Aamir Mahmood (Kiran), Mushtaq Qureshi (Naye Ufaq), Salman Qureshi (Naya Rukh), Faisal Zahid Malik (Pakistan Observer), Ilyas Shakir (Qaumi Akhbar), Mehmood Sheikh (Roohani Digest), Riaz Ahmed Mansuri (The Cricketer), Niloufer Patel and Khawaja Kaleem (Dawn).