On July 16, the Peshawar High Court addressed issues of delayed and non-payment of minimum wages to media industry employees, demanding a comprehensive report from the provincial government.

Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan, presiding over a single-member bench, ordered the Information Department’s secretary, Matiullah Khan, to settle outstanding advertisement dues by July 30.

The court was responding to a contempt plea by the Council of Newspapers Editors (CPNE) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which alleged the government had failed to clear advertisement dues despite assurances given to the court in 2024. The hearing revealed the “pathetic conditions” faced by various newspaper employees who were not even being paid minimum wages as under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Payment of Wages Act, 2013 and even those salaries are not being paid to them, in clear violation of the law.

A day prior, the court summoned the information secretary following his department’s failure to issue the required cheque payments to newspapers.

Just days earlier, the Khyber Union of Journalists and the Peshawar Press Club, had also urged the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court, SM Attique Shah, to consider the plight of media industry workers before releasing any funds owed to newspapers.

Information Secretary Matiullah Khan informed the court that his department’s advertisement section was fast-tracking the finalisation of cheques for petitioners, though he requested additional time due to the volume and to ensure accuracy with the department’s records. The bench asked him to complete it before the next scheduled hearing date.