NOWSHERA: Adviser to Chief Minister on Information and Public Relations Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif on Friday assured all steps by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for the welfare of the journalist community.
He held out the assurance at a reception arranged by the Nowshera Press Club (NPC). Member Provincial Assembly Ashfaq Khan, Secretary Information Arshad Khan, Director General of Information Department Imran Khan, Nowshera Deputy Commissioner Iranfanullah Mahsud, District Police Officer Azhar Khan, and others attended the programme.
The adviser said journalism was rightly considered the fourth pillar of the state and journalists were welcome to point out any lacking in the governance in KP. He noted positive criticism was in the government’s interest but asked the journalists to be fair and unbiased in this regard.
Barrister Saif was ciritical of the federal government and accused the rulers at the Centre of meeting out a stepmother treatment to KP. He asked the federal government to shun such attitude toward this province and release all the arrears it owed to the province under various heads.
The adviser to the chief minister, who is also spokesman for the KP government, came down hard on the Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. “Her politics is confined to TikTok only and she is vying for increasing the number of her followers on social media while Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur is serving the people of KP and launching projects for their welfare,” he said.
The Peshawar Press Club President Arshad Aziz Malik in his speech urged the government to help the media industry with coping with the challenges and sought steps for the welfare of the journalists.
He called for providing solar energy systems to journalists as early as possible as they were finding it difficult to pay the electricity bills of their homes after the recent high increase in power tariffs
Earlier, NPC President Mushtaq Paracha, brought to the notice of the adviser some issues faced by the club, especially those related to the Media Colony. Barrister Saif agreed to the demands and promised to take up them with the chief minister.The chief guest awarded shields to journalists on the occasion.