karachi – All Pakistan Newspaper Society expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for accepting its requests in a meeting in Islamabad. Hameed Haroon, President APNS had told the PM that APNS was going to establish an office in Karachi and needed Rs 50 million from the government, also requesting the PM to lay the foundation stone of the building. PM agreed to both these requests and said the amount will be paid in two installments. The APNS delegation also asked the PM to increase the government advertisement rates which were frozen since the Zia era and should have been increased in accordance with the CPI increase during the last 10 years which was 135 percent, to which the PM said that the increase will be decided by Secretary Information Taimoor Azmat and Secretary General APNS Sarmad Ali. Haroon also said that the Capital Development Authority had earmarked a plot for APNS at Zero Point for its Federal Secretariat but the plot had not been allotted, to which the PM said that it will be done so soon. Haroon also told the PM that the Ministry of Education owed a sum of Rs 102,937,059 to APNS accredited advertising agencies to which the PM said that this issue will also be resolved soon. The APNS delegation also pointed out that the Ministry of Postal Services / Pakistan Post, PEPCO and NHA had released advertisements for enormous amount whereas their annual budgets are far less than their advertisement expenses. The PM advised the Ministry of Information to take up the matter. The APNS hoped that the PM’s announcements will bail the crisis-ridden newspaper industry out and will strengthen the ties between the govt and the press.
