PESHAWAR: A senior tribal journalist, who has been suffering from cancer since 2011, has appealed to the government to help him complete his treatment.

Addressing a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday, Sultan Habib Afridi of Darra Adamkhel said he continued treatment at different hospitals in Peshawar, Islamabad and Lahore, and despite having an operation of intestines in 2012, the disease re-emerged.

Mr Afridi, also president of the Darra Adamkhel chapter of Tribal Union of Journalists, lamented that the media organisations he remained associated with had refused to assist him, adding that government and journalists’ unions had also turned a deaf ear towards him.

The ailing journalist, who is serving with Daily Pakistan and Dunya Television as correspondent from FR Kohat, said the organisations had refused to support him financially, forcing him to sell out his properties worth Rs2.5 million to be spent on his prolonged and costly treatment. “I have shifted five of my six children to government schools and colleges from private ones due to poverty,” he said.

Mr Afridi said that his only source of income was a shop at Darra Adamkhel. He appreciated his relatives and friends for supporting him during initial treatment, adding that now no one was ready for lending money to him.

The journalist said that the only property he was left with now was a two-room house at his village, while his monthly expenses on treatment were about Rs75,000.

The journalist appealed to President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Federal Minister for Information Pervez Rasheed, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, well of people and journalists bodies to help him complete his treatment.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2014