LAHORE, April 17: The Punjab government is determined to maintain freedom of the press in the province.

The assurance was given to the journalists by the Punjab Information Secretary Taimur Azmat Osman on Thursday. He was speaking at a meeting of the Punjab Union of Journalists at its Dyal Singh Mansion office.

He said that Chief Minister Pervaiz Ilahi had issued instructions to give complete freedom to the newspapers to express their views.

He said that the provincial government had cordial relations with the press. Any grievance or complaint of the newsmen caused by a government official in any part of the province would be redressed.

The Punjab government, he said, was aware of the economic problems of the working journalists. It had instituted a welfare fund to provide necessary relief to the deserving journalists in hardship cases.

PFUJ president I.H. Raashed, PUJ president Bakhatgir Chaudhry and general secretary Raja Jalil Hassan Akhtar explained to the information secretary the problems of the journalists and gave suggested measures to solve them.