ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: In a rare show of support for provincial and regional press, the Senate Standing Committee on Information on Saturday asked the ministry of information to cut national press advertisements quota by 25 per cent to 50 per cent and distribute it among provincial newspapers besides already allocated 25 pc quota for regional newspapers.

The committee met here at the Parliament House and presided over by its Chairman Senator Liaqat Ali Bangulzai.

The committee was told that at present the national newspapers were getting 75 percent quota of the government advertisements.

It recommended that advertisements related to Benazir Income Support Programme should also be given to small newspapers.

The committee expressed its dissatisfaction over the performance of the external publicity wing.

The members were annoyed at the absence of Information Minister Sherry Rahman from the standing committee meeting, saying it was the second consecutive meeting the minister had ignored.

Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, a member of the committee who attended the meeting, told reporters that the committee members were extremely unhappy with the performance of press attachés and press counselors working abroad.

He said there was a general feeling that these officers were not coming up to the expectations. “We believe Pakistan has given a lot of sacrifices in the war on terror but our officials working abroad have failed to propagate it properly,” he added.

The committee asked the government to ensure that only senior information group officials are appointed in Washington and New York as press ministers or press counselors.

Mr Bangulzai informed the meeting that nobody from Information group came for coverage of the conference on Kashmir which he attended as delegate in Washington recently.

Awami National Party’s Haji Adeel also termed the performance of information officers working in Pakistani missions abroad unsatisfactory. He said that he visited Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as part of Parliamentary delegations but none of the press counselors was seen giving coverage to the delegation’s official engagements.

Earlier, Principal Information Officer (PIO) briefed the committee on advertisement quota for newspapers. He said under the rules all government departments are required to route their advertisements through PID.

But in practice, ministries and divisions do not abide by this rule and select media on their own and insist that their recommendations should be upheld without any amendment.

About working of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), the committee was informed that the bureau was established in 1956 to enforce newsprint control.

The meeting was attended by Senators Haji Adeel, Col Retd. Tahir Mashhaddi, Tahira Latif, and Dr Abdul Malik. The meeting was also attended by Secretary Information and Broadcasting Akram Shaheedi and senior officials of the Information Ministry.