The series of news items published by one of Karachi based dailies during last few days pertaining to different state of official affairs mainly the payment to the newspapers/media houses aimed at mala fide intentions against the Directorate of Advertisement, Information Department, Government of Sindh, have been categorically denied and termed as baseless, fabricated and without any concrete evidence.
The spokesperson of the department in a rebuttal issued here on Tuesday, has clarified that a handful blackmailers /black sheep in the print media has resorted warfare against the honest officers of the department to gain their ulterior motives. Actually, they want to usurp the rights of other media houses / newspapers for their vested interests on account of advertisements and payments. He further said that the prevailing media trial is not new one but the cited newspaper had been publishing such fake stories against Information Department in the past as well. He stated that, all the matters related to advertisements have been streamlined and long-standing issue of payments to the media houses/newspapers has also been resolved after fulfilment of all codal formalities in the light of the orders of the then Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan and Honourable Sindh High Court after verification by third party / Chartered Accountant Auditor Firm and Sindh Chief Minister’s Inspection, Enquiries and Implementation Team (CMIE&IT).
The spokesperson further said that, it is worth to mention here that the Directorate has unearthed the racket of bogus court notices of different Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) based in Karachi through the verification from Home Department, Government of Sindh/concerned ATCs, which were cancelled along with stoppage of payment thereof. He further said that such tactics of blackmailing by the said newspaper has not only damaged the image of department but also caused the irreparable loss to the media industry as well.
He concluded that the officers and officials of the Directorate of Advertisement, Information Department, Government of Sindh while realizing the present sufferings and hardships of the media workers, worked day and night even in public holiday on the directions and instructions of honourable Minister Information and Secretary Information for timely payment to the media houses and newspapers.
