KARACHI, March 30: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation (Apnec) have severely criticised a statement issued by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) after its annual general meeting on March 29.

They have called upon the government to immediately withdraw all ‘concessions’ given to newspaper owners because of their categorical announcement that they would not implement the seventh wage board award.

The two apex bodies of newspaper employees vowed in a joint statement to defend the wage award as well as the Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Act 1973 (Necosa-73) unanimously passed by parliament and endorsed by successive parliaments, and called for a high-level probe into assets of newspaper owners to ascertain their claim that they were not in a position to implement the wage award.

The statement said the government must respect the commitment made last month before a high-powered international mission, comprising the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), National Union of Journalists (NUJ), UK, Reporters Without Borders and a senior editor from India, that the seventh wage award would be implemented within ‘days’.

The statement said that the PFUJ and Apnec believe that the APNS was the main hurdle in the joint struggle for freedom of the press and called for an independent body of newspaper editors.The statement also demanded that the government should constitute the eighth wage board even if the APNS refused to name its members, because it was mandatory for the government to form the wage board after every five years.