GILGIT, Nov 8: The Northern Areas Legislative Council has asked the Northern Areas administration to disburse official advertisements and special supplements to only those local and national newspapers which pay wages to their employees in the five districts of the Northern Areas, sources said.

In a resolution authored by NALC member Syed Jafar Shah the council observed that the working journalists in the region were not being paid any wages or remuneration despite the fact that almost all the newspapers (local and national) and news agencies extract huge amounts from the government departments by way of advertisements and special supplements.

“The newsmen in the region have been deprived of their wages by exploiting their compulsions in the remote areas which is a gross violation of human rights,” president of Gilgit Union of Journalists Imtiaz Ali Taj said.

“The only asset we have is a press card which in no way feeds our stomachs,” Mr Taj observed.