PESHAWAR, Aug 4: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has doubled the honoraria of ‘men of letters’ and the heirs of those who have passed away. This was stated by Iftikhar Arif, chairman of the Pakistan Academy of Letters, while presiding over a meeting.

During the academy’s meeting, he said the financial assistance provided to deserving poets and writers and their heirs by the academy was considered insufficient. Mr Arif said that deserving men of letters and their heirs were being given a monthly honoraria of Rs1,500-Rs2,000 that had now been increased to Rs3,000-Rs4,000. He said that the Pakistan Academy of Letters had paid Rs140 million to 500 writers by June 30.

The academy’s chairman thanked the prime minister on behalf of the littérateurs for increasing the financial assistance.—Online