Journalists’ jirga resolves Peshawar Press Club disputes

PESHAWAR: A four-member jirga of senior journalists resolved the disputes between rival groups of the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday and paved the way for holding of annual election according to the schedule on December 30.

The jirga led by senior journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai devised a mechanism to stave off conflict between two major groups and avert a split in the Peshawar Press Club.

The other members of the group are senior journalists Ismail Khan, Abdullah Jan and M Riaz.

The extraordinary meeting of the general body of the Peshawar Press Club endorsed the decisions of the jirga that were made after holding consultations with representatives of the rival groups. The Zubair Mir Hall of the Peshawar Press Club was jampacked with members when the meeting began with the club’s president Alamgir Khan in the chair. He then requested Rahimullah Yusufzai to chair and steer the meeting.

The crisis had erupted due to differences over the suspension of five members by the existing body of the Peshawar Press Club.

The jirga with the agreement of the group leaders decided to conditionally restore membership of the suspended members Syed Bukhar Shah, Nasir Hussain, Ammad Waheed, Fida Adeel and Rizwan Sheikh and allowed them to take part in the upcoming election as voters and candidates.

The jirga decided to form an impartial team of experts to carry out the audit of the financial matters within a timeline and also probe other disputed matters that led to the squabble between the groups of journalists.

To do away with the reservations of one of the groups on the election committee, the jirga co-opted Wadood Baig and Nasir Dawar as new members of the committee.

It announced that the Press Club election would be held on schedule worked out by the election committee headed by Mushtaq Yousafzai.

It asked the members to refrain from posting and sharing offensive, indecent and improper remarks on matters related to the Press Club’s affairs and electioneering on the social media and other mediums and warned that the Jirga could take action against the violators.

The jirga urged the two members who had instituted cases in various courts of law and the Right to Information Commission against the decisions of the present club’s cabinet to withdraw their petitions. They promised to withdraw their cases at the earliest.

It also approved formation of a committee to propose amendments to the Press Club constitution to purge it of the lacunas hampering effective running of its affairs.

According to a subsequent statement, the jirga formed the committee to be headed by Abdullah Jan and having Wasim Ahmed Shah and Akhtar Amin as members.

The club members were advised to submit proposals within 10 days in this respect to committee that will present its draft to the jirga by January 15 next year.