LAHORE: Inaugurating the APNEC Convention in Lahore this evening [Dec2], Choudhri Ghulam Abbas, supreme head of the Azad Kashmir movement, appealed to the Pakistan Press to fully realise the great responsibilities as the guides of public opinion and guardians of popular rights. The Press in a country, he emphasised, forms the index of the position of a people, their virtues and their shortcomings. The Press can both make or mar a nation. … He was very unhappy, he said, over the division in the ranks of the Press in Pakistan… .

… In … his address of welcome, Mr Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Editor of the Pakistan Times and Chairman of the Reception Committee dwelt at length on the circumstances which led to the formation of the APNEC and said that the division among their ranks was not a matter of gratification. This can only please those who could not tolerate the unity of newspaper editors and who knowingly or unknowingly wanted disruption and disunity in the national Press.

Referring to the Public Safety Acts and PNEC’s support to these Acts, Mr Faiz said that such support was a violation of the freedom ... of the Press.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2025