MIRPUR (AJK)-AJK Press Foundation Chairman Sadaqat Hussain said that the foundation will leave no stone unturned to ensure the promotion of healthy journalism in Azad Jammu & Kashmir in line with the needs of the modern age.
He said it would encourage the professional and educated working journalists and ensure welfare of the journalist fraternity across AJK. He was speaking at the oath taking ceremony of the newly-elected members of the Board of Governors of state-controlled AJK Press Foundation.
The foundation chairman referred to various existing and proposed welfare projects meant exclusively for the welfare of the working journalists including member journalists of the AJK Press Foundation to facilitate the professional journalists with the required environment and infrastructural facilities at the press clubs in all ten districts of AJK.
He said that at the crucial juncture of the struggle for freedom of occupied Jammu & Kashmir, it is enjoined upon the journalists at AJK, the base camp of Kashmir freedom struggle, to lend all of their professional skills and abilities for the projection of the Kashmir cause and the Kashmiris indigenous struggle for the achievement of birth right of self-determination through their high intellect and pen.
Speaking on the occasion, PID AJK Director General and AJK Press Foundation Secretary Raja Azher Iqbal said that Rs15 million have so far been spent under the Press Foundation Act for the welfare of the needy journalists across Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
He underlined various existing and upcoming projects exclusively meant for the welfare and uplift of the AJK journalists under the auspices of the AJK Press Foundation.
Earlier, Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja administered oath to 12 newly elected members of the Board of Governors of AJK Press Foundation for next two years. The oath-taking ceremony was held at the Kashmir Press Club auditorium. Journalists from all ten districts of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Rawalpindi and Islamabad attended the ceremony.
Senior officials of Mirpur division and district administration including Commissioner Muhammad Tayyeb, Deputy Commissioner Sardar Adnan Khursheed, Senior Superintendent of Police Riaz Haider Bukhari and others were also present.
The newly-elected members included Arshad Mahmood Butt from Mirpur, Nasir Butt from Bhimbher, Sardar Zulfiqar Ahmed from Muzaffarabad, Shehzad Ahmed Rathore and Muhammad Amjad Chaudhry from Rawalpindi -Islamabad, Muhammad Arif Kashmiri from Jhelum Valley District, Muhammad Hayat Awan from Neelam valley, Muhammad Zahid Bashir from Rawalakot, Raja Mahmood Ayub Rathore from Kahota /Haveili, Rashid Yaqoob from Palandri, Muhammad Ashraf Khan from Bagh and Journalist Zamurd Hussain from Kotli.
Outgoing vice chairman Amjad Chaudhry also addressed the ceremony and underlined various steps he claimed to had initiated during his term for the betterment and uplift of the journalist community in AJK.
Meanwhile, Journalist Sardar Zulfiqar Ali from Muzaffarabad district was elected as vice chairman of the Azad Jammu & Kashmir Press Foundation, a state-controlled body meant for the welfare of AJK journalists, in the elections held under the auspices of Press Information Department of AJK government at the PID Mirpur Division office.
Sardar Zulfiqar Ali clinched the victory securing eight out of all 12 votes against his only rival Amjad Chaudhry, who bagged only four votes, announced the Chief Election Commissioner/Director General PID Azad Jammu Kashmir Raja Azher Iqbal at the venue.