For 16 years I worked in The News – I was expecting to continue to work in it till I eventually retired. But that was not to be. I was unceremoniously fired on absolutely flimsy grounds. Another journalist who contested his termination from Business Record - Mr Baloch - contested his case for several years, he won in every single court. The owners of Business Recorder refused to concede defeat every time, they took the matter to the Supreme Court of Pakistan – even there they lost. Despite the rulings in favour of Mr Baloch in every court of the country, the owners of Business Recorder have refused to rehire him even then. The members of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society have marked as a trouble maker and have unanimously decided not to publish anything he submits, his career as a journalist is as good as dead.
Somehow the Supreme Court of Pakistan is not able to make anyone follow its decisions. Business Recorder is also part of the all powerful crime syndicate the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (as is The News) Considering Mr Baloch’s situation who spent so many years for his reinstatement and failed - I have decided not to contest - what is the point of spending five or more years to get back my job back – give a lawyer lots of money to fight cases in different courts. The News is just one publication of the Jang Group and has tremendously resources and I have none.
If any journalist challenges any newspaper in Pakistan faces the wrath of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, which ensure the journalist never finds a job in newspaper ever again.
The mistake I made was stick on for the number of years that I did. In hindsight I should have joined some other place, a long time ago before things turned into absolute shambles as the years wore, it ceased to be a newspaper office anymore, it was transformed into a dump. Because the owners of The News for ten years had completely lost interest in it. The original enthusiasm with which it had started had worn off, very quickly.
Everyone who had joined with me and whom I knew, had long since left. The first things which started irritating everyone was that the salary was never paid on time. Then there was a tremendous lack of appreciation for work well done, no one was paid anything extra for the effort the time and effort they put in.
The result was a steady deterioration in the standard of the newspaper, about which the owners did not care one bit. The concept of filling vacancies never existed so new people were never hired, because there was no system in place to actually hire anyone. It always assumed that people would volunteer instead of expecting get paid for the work and time they put in. Everyone had gone with the exception of a three or four others including me were sticking around, now I am without a job.
There is no justice, if the laws of the land cannot be enforced the what is the point of contesting any case, if the judiciary is not in a position to make the rich and powerful abide by the laws? It is a terrible situation about which nothing can be done about. As someone said justice is only for those with money – not for those scrounging for a living. I might as well look for some kind work in a completely unrelated field.
The Jang Group is an organisation which has a habit of being extremely vindictive. It had hired a talented individual for its Geo channel, that person got a better offer from another channel, so went there. The Jang Group was so angry with that person it published a completely false news item against him. The claimed he had stolen cameras. The only reason they retracted the item was they could not convince the police.
The News is headed by a person who does not anything about journalism Sharukh Hassan, who considers himself God, he is an MBA - he is holding the position of Managing Editor,he is related to Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman the owner of the Jang Group, he is reputed to be a blackmailer, a womaniser and like all businessmen a major tax evader and an absolute liar. Such are the people running news organisations of the country. Anyone who chooses to be a journalist in Pakistan beware, there are pitfalls everywhere and eventually completely hopelessness That is exactly how I am feeling right now, because I don’t know whether or not I will find another job . I am not expecting any miracles. So many people I knew who were doing well in their career died in extreme poverty, perhaps the same fate awaits me.
The mistake I made was stick on for the number of years that I did. In hindsight I should have joined some other place, a long time ago before things turned into absolute shambles as the years wore, it ceased to be a newspaper office anymore, it was transformed into a dump. Because the owners of The News for ten years had completely lost interest in it. The original enthusiasm with which it had started had worn off, very quickly.
Everyone who had joined with me and whom I knew, had long since left. The first things which started irritating everyone was that the salary was never paid on time. Then there was a tremendous lack of appreciation for work well done, no one was paid anything extra for the effort the time and effort they put in.
The result was a steady deterioration in the standard of the newspaper, about which the owners did not care one bit. The concept of filling vacancies never existed so new people were never hired, because there was no system in place to actually hire anyone. It always assumed that people would volunteer instead of expecting get paid for the work and time they put in. Everyone had gone with the exception of a three or four others including me were sticking around, now I am without a job.
There is no justice, if the laws of the land cannot be enforced the what is the point of contesting any case, if the judiciary is not in a position to make the rich and powerful abide by the laws? It is a terrible situation about which nothing can be done about. As someone said justice is only for those with money – not for those scrounging for a living. I might as well look for some kind work in a completely unrelated field.
The Jang Group is an organisation which has a habit of being extremely vindictive. It had hired a talented individual for its Geo channel, that person got a better offer from another channel, so went there. The Jang Group was so angry with that person it published a completely false news item against him. The claimed he had stolen cameras. The only reason they retracted the item was they could not convince the police.
The News is headed by a person who does not anything about journalism Sharukh Hassan, who considers himself God, he is an MBA - he is holding the position of Managing Editor,he is related to Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman the owner of the Jang Group, he is reputed to be a blackmailer, a womaniser and like all businessmen a major tax evader and an absolute liar. Such are the people running news organisations of the country. Anyone who chooses to be a journalist in Pakistan beware, there are pitfalls everywhere and eventually completely hopelessness That is exactly how I am feeling right now, because I don’t know whether or not I will find another job . I am not expecting any miracles. So many people I knew who were doing well in their career died in extreme poverty, perhaps the same fate awaits me.
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