ISLAMABAD, June 21: In a joint statement issued here on Sunday, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and the All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation, criticized non- implementation or the Seventh Wage Board Award and regretted that the APNS instead of implementing the award was trying to make it controversial.

They referred to the advertisement campaign launched by the APNS against the award, and said that newspaper owners instead of easing the economic woes of the workers were trying to deny them their basic rights.

They said that after the passage of the unanimous resolution by the National Assembly on the issue it was now the government's responsibility to make legislation linking advertisements to implementation of the wage award to provide justice to the newspaper industry workers.

They contested the plea of the owners that through the implementation of the wage award the government wanted to gag the press. They maintained that implementation of the wage award had nothing to do with freedom of press. They urged the APNS to honour the resolutions of the parliament and Supreme Court verdicts and implement the award.