AJK PM seeks proposals for journalists' welfare.

MUZAFFARABAD -- Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider on Sunday called for early preparation of a comprehensive working plan for payment of pension to elderly journalists as well as enhancement of some other benefits being already provided to them from the platform of AJK Press Foundation.

'I consider myself duty bound to do whatever I can within the capacity and resources of my government for the welfare of the journalist community who have been discharging their duties in the most difficult conditions in this territory,' Mr Haider said at a meeting with AJK's Director General Public Relations Raja Azhar Iqbal and Press Foundation Vice Chairman Sardar Zulfiqar Ali.

The Press Foundation was raised by an Act of the AJK Assembly in 2004 for the welfare of Kashmiri journalists, fulfilling the criteria of its membership, with a serving AJK High Court judge as its chairman.

The DGPR happens to be the ex-officio secretary of the organisation while 12 elected and two nominated members of its board of governors from the journalist community elect a vice chairman from among themselves for a two-year term.

The current chairman is Justice Sadaqat Hussain Raja while Mr Ali, who is editor of a local daily, is the elected vice chairman.

In case of the death of any member (journalist), the foundation immediately provides Rs25,000 to his family for funerals and...