KARACHI: The ban on government advertisements in the media, especially Dawn newspaper, for several months is a matter of deep concerns for hundreds of employees and their families. All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation stands with its colleagues in this difficult time. These views were expressed in a meeting of the All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation (APNEC) held at the Jang Union Office Karachi under the chairmanship of its Chairman Shakeel Yamin Kanga. Officials of other APNEC trade unions members across Pakistan attended the meeting via Zoom. The participants of the meeting strongly condemned the stoppage of advertisements in daily Dawn by the government and demanded immediate restoration of advertisements. Chairman APNEC Shakeel Yamin Kanga termed the closure of advertisements as an economic murder of media employees and an attack on freedom of expression and said that the government should not play with the lives of media workers. The meeting also pledged that if the government does not take action, there would be a nationwide protest. The participants of the meeting also demanded the inclusion of an APNEC representative in the government and the negotiation committee. Expressing his views, APNEC Secretary General Asghar Khan said that APNEC fully believes in freedom of expression and democracy and has always fought against brutality and undemocratic tactics on media houses in the past. He strongly condemns the closure of Dawn Media group advertisements and demanded that this trend be stopped immediately and that the distribution of advertisements to the media be done according to merit and law. He expressed full solidarity with APNS and CPNE and assured that APNEC stands with these institutions. The meeting stressed the need for the Government of Pakistan to immediately issue pending health cards of journalists and media workers and to start new registration. The meeting also approved the immediate holding of local APNEC elections so that journalists and media workers could be organized at the regional level. The meeting was attended by Chairman Shakeel Yameen Kanga, Secretary General Asghar Khan, Finance Secretary Muhammad Irfan, President of Karachi Union of Journalists Tahir Hassan Khan, President of Herald Workers Union Muhammad Kashif, Vice Chairman Dara Zafar, Assistant Secretary General Rana Muhammad Yousuf, Assistant Secretary General Mirza Imran Baig, Member NEC Obaidullah, The News Union Karachi President Saeed Mohiuddin, Raziuddin Babar, Shaukat Khattak, Joint Secretary of Jang Employees Union Karachi Salimullah Siddiqui, Syed Sabir Ali, Adnan Shaukat from Lahore, Tahir Munsif and others. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025