LAHORE, Nov 17: Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) Chairman Fakhar Zaman has announced the launch of a new television channel and an FM radio station exclusively for the projection of literary activities.

He announced the launch of the channels at a reception hosted in his honour by the Punjabi Newspapers and Periodicals Association at Alhamra Art Centre here on Monday. Mr Zaman said the Art Channel would broadcast news about the publications and interviews of distinguished writers in all the languages spoken in the country.

He said need for the launch of new channel had been felt because the existing TV channels were not projecting literary scene. The proposed channel would project progressive and enlightened literature instead of retrogressive material. A 450-room auditorium would be completed in Islamabad by March 31 next year and named after Faiz Ahmed Faiz. He said the academy had been made autonomous and was answerable only to the prime minister.

He said he had decided to form a commission of all literary and cultural institutions and was determined to make the academy a remarkable institution and resolve financial problems being faced by the writers. He said he had set the stipend for writers Rs5,000 per month and one-time grant for writers in financial trouble from Rs25,000 to Rs100,000. Deserving writers would be issued cheques for financial assistance within two days of applying for it.

The PAL chairman said a Rs100,000 award would be given for the best book on a sufi poet every year. An international sufi conference will be held on Dec 19 and 20 and the academy will publish the translations of remarkable literary works in all the languages.

He said his department would also restore the publication of its quarterly journal in five languages.

He said he would also meet Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and urge him to restore the advertisement quota of Punjabi newspapers and periodicals immediately.

He said the academy would treat all languages written and spoken in the country as national languages.He said that the academy had developed linkages with China, India, Turkey, Poland, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, England, USA and Canada where Punjabi language was being taught.

He said that he would try for giving Punjabi a due place because it was a neglected language at present. He said he had doubled the rumination of writers with immediate effect.