ISLAMABAD: A committee of senior journalists and activists that was tasked to unite the two factions of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ-Barna group) has decided to make one final attempt at reviving a united organisation.

The split in the journalists’ premier union had occurred following a dispute at the PFUJ’s 2013 Biennial Dele­gates Meeting in Karachi, with groups headed by Rana Azeem and Afzal Butt parting ways to form their own respective PFUJ factions.

Following efforts by some seasoned PFUJ activists, a Unification Com­mittee (UC) was set up last year with the consent of both the factions, and is headed by veteran journalist M. Ziauddin. The Committee made some promising efforts aimed at merging the two sides, but these were disrupted when one of the PFUJ factions disregarded the merger formula, and went ahead with a meeting of its own members on May 15, and elected office-bearers of its own faction of the PFUJ.

The UC which again met on Wednesday in Islamabad has now decided to call one final meeting on July 23 of all the stakeholders, including all former presidents and secretaries general of the national body.

These include the top office-bearers of the two def­u­nct factions. The Com­mittee has authorised Mr Ziauddin to personally call the stakeholders and invite them to this final meeting to be held in Islamabad at the PFUJ headquarters. The UC has also requested all those interested in participating in the meeting to inform the committee’s chairman in advance.

The UC says it has finalised a number of alternative proposals on how best to go about completing the final stages of the unification process started almost 10 months ago and seek a consensus of the stakeholders at the final meeting on one of these proposals.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2016