Mr. Qamar Yousafza sent a statement to the Kauser News Agency and said:
The PAIFJ wishes to raise specific legitimate points of concern regarding the widely reported funding of various projects: as stated and reported in the IFJ article Afghanistan: Journalists need your help – 14th August 2023, where it is claimed that key actions/initiatives were implemented in the shape of distributing financial aid to support Journalists who left Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of 2021.
First and foremost we have not seen evidence of any financial grants being used to reduce the real challenges and burdens facing these Journalists currently resident in Pakistan
Briefly, the current President of PAIFJ has an impressive history combined with professional experience working with Afghan affairs spanning 30 years and was actively involved in initially establishing the Pak Afghan International Forum of Journalists group back in September 2021.
Additionally, we wish to stress in the strongest terms that there was no awareness of such financial grants being distributed by the IFJ, at the very least the Afzal Butt, President (PFUJ). who would have been aware of the existence of such a provision to support these Afghani Journalists and in turn publicized widely
Neither has there been even a single reported case to acknowledge receipt regarding a contribution towards flight costs for those journalists with secure visas in the form of an evacuation grant.
Therefore, we would like to know as part of the transparency of action, the breakdown of the € 40 000 grant awarded to Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) which it is claimed was utilized for respite accommodation. Once again there is a dire lack of transparency as not a single Journalist has come forward to acknowledge receipt of any financial payment in this regard.
A key initiative implemented by the PAIFJ is the routine screening and scrutinization process to determine the legitimate and integral professional identity of all its members (an executive committee was established) whose sole objective is to ensure proper professional and ethical standards are maintained and adhered to regarding identity of its members
The PAIFJ wishes to reiterate the lack of transparency especially regarding the reporting of financial assistance, subsistence grants, and awards should be properly administered and working towards the same objective to underscore the collective spirit in which many are serving to alleviate the plight of their colleagues is not duly undermined by such dereliction of duty incumbent from each and everyone as a given
