APNS thanks Tarin for accepting the budget proposals.

Karachi, October 16, 2009 (Frontier Star): The All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) has thanked the federal finance minister, Shaukat Tarin for accepting the budget proposals of print media for withdrawal of withholding tax on advertisements, GST on import of newsprint and especially exemption of the Federal excise duty on advertisements in newspapers. The members in a special resolution commended the efforts of the President and the secretary general, APNS and the cooperation and support extended by Arif Nizami and Hameed Haroon in getting the bail-out package for newspaper industry incorporated in the Finance Act. Dr. Jabbar Khattak, Secretary General of the APNS announced the decision and resolutions adopted by the APNS Executive committee at its meeting held at Lahore under the chairmanship of Vice president, Mumtaz A. Tahir. The Executive Committee noted that the press information department is misinterpreting the notification issued by the FBR on exemption of FED on print media and has withheld approval of the bills of advertising agencies on the pretext that the invoices do not include the FED till the date of the notification. It was further noted that the SRO issued by the FBR clearly stated that the FED if already collected the deposited and did not make it obligatory to pay the FED for advertisement published till the issuance of notification. The members were of the opinion that the approach of PID negated the spirit of the decision of Minister for Finance and would result in non-payment of bills to member publications. The Executive Committee urged upon the PID to revisit the notification of FBR and approve the bills submitted by advertising agencies and member publication without further delay. The members reiterated that the allocation of the government ads as per the agreed quota for Metro-Regional and periodical publications be implemented in letter and spirit. The resolution further demanded that the allocation of the advertisement should be made to the APNS members only. The executive committee urged the Punjab government to review the provincial advertising policy and allocate appropriate share for Metro-B and regional publications in all categories of classified and displayed advertisements. The committee also demanded that timely payment on monthly basis to newspapers against government advertisements be ensured. The meeting noted that the director general public relations Punjab has deliberately slashed the advertisements to the publications from Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur, which should be addressed appropriately. The committee considered the request of the information ministry regarding nominations for the press council and authorized the president and secretary general of the society to finalize the names of the nominees. The executive committee also granted associate membership and provisional; accreditation to the applicant publications, agencies, and MBH on recommendation of respective committees. The meeting was attended by Mumtaz .A . Tahir, vice president, DR Jabbar Khattak, secretary general, Syed Muhammad Munir Jilani, Faisal Shahjehan, Waseem Ahmed, Rehmat Ali Razi, Ahad Zuberi, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, Siddique Baloch, Syed Faseih Iqbal, Sarmad Ali, Aijaz-ul-Haq, and others. Mukhtar Alam (Jurrat Karachi), Younas Riaz (Bupar), Ghulam Nabi Chandio (Daily Pak), Amiqur Rehman and Atiqur Rehman attended the meting as special invitees.

(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)