Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi on Tuesday raised the issues of the journalist community including Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), a national news agency, whose staffers were staging their protest at the Constitutional Avenue for their due rights.

Speaking in the National Assembly (NA), he urged the authorities concerned to meet the valid demands of the APP staffers as per directive of its Board of Directors (BoDs) such as disparity allowance, conversion of their grades to Basic Pay Scale (BPS) and honorarium etc.

He also pointed out the manhandling of court reporters by B4U – a private investment company’s owner Adnan Malik and his accomplices at the Accountability Court Islamabad’s premises while they were covering a particular case.

NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also urged the ministry concerned to look into matters and address the journalist community’s issues on priority.

Parliamentary Reporters Association (PRA) President Siddique Sajid along with the  journalists walked out from the NA proceedings in a bid to bring the journalist fraternity’s issues in the limelight of the august House.

NA Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani accompanied with his colleague Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry approached the PRA president in the Press Lounge and heard the grievances of the journalist community.

The PRA President Siddique Sajid urged them to fulfil all the legitimate demands of APP staffers on the immediate basis as their BoDs were already approved.

He further asked to take action against the culprits who brutally attacked the court reporters belonging to various media houses including Haseeb Malik, Tahir Naseer, Rizwan Kazi and Usman.