Date: February 23 – 25, 2004
Location: Okara
Okara is a city of about 800,000 inhabitants. Due to vicinity of Lahore, Okara has an imprint of urban habitat. It is an agricultural town known for its fruit farms. The most famous of these is Mitchelle Fruit Farm at nearby Renala Khurd. Irrespective of its size, Okara has political representation in Punjab and Federal government. Rao Sikandar, Federal defence minister, belongs to Okara.
Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) organized a 3-day Journalism Training Workshop at Union Council Library, Okara, from February 23 – 25, 2004.
There were 30 participants. 14 were men, mostly journalists, and 16 were lady teachers, social workers, councillors and students. Both genders took keen interest in workshop and demonstrated good knowledge of social, political and economic issues facing their community.
Trainers for the workshop were Mr. Fazal Qureshi, Chief Editor, Pakistan Press International (PPI) and Mr. Zia Ahmed Khan, PPI correspondent in Okara.
Workshop teaching lectures covered topics
of news, news – writing principles, concept of inverted pyramid and rule of five Ws and an H. Each lecture was followed by practical exercises and an open exchange of discussion covering a wide range of subjects related to journalism and freedom of press.
The art of writing letters to the editor, articles and features was also taught in the workshop. At the end of each day, participants were given assignments.
The closing session was presided over by Mr. Zafar Abbas Bukhari, District Police Officer, who was a journalist before joining police service. In his brief speech, Mr. Bukhari praised local journalists for their responsible conduct. He highlighted importance of local journalists projecting local problems, in social, economic and other fields, in newspapers.
Mr. Bukhari urged women to come forward and express their viewpoint in newspapers. He praised PPF for organizing workshop. He anticipated more such workshops to be held in future. He distributed certificates among the participants.
List of Participants | ||
Name |
Designation
|
Organization |
Mrs. Riffat Chudhry | Anjuman-e-Behbood-e-Khawateen | |
Salma Shafiq |
18 Grade Officer
|
|
Mah Jabeen | Anjuman-e-Behbood-e-Khawateen | |
Munir Choudhary |
Chairman
|
Okara Press Club |
Zia Ahmed Khan |
Correspondent
|
Pakistan Press International |
Fozia Akhter |
Freelance Writer
|
|
Dr. Nageena Ramzan |
Custodian
|
Welfare Society Mandi Bahauddin |
Farah Jabeen |
General Secretary
|
Child Rights Committee |
Shaheen Munawar |
Lady General Councillor
|
|
Bashir Ahmed |
Bureau Chief
|
Daily Asas Mohammad Sarwar Mujahid |
Correspondent |
Nawa-i-Waqt
|
Zulfiqar Malik |
District Reporter |
Daily Insaaf
|
Zulfiqar Ali |
Bureau Chief |
Daily Pakistan
|
Shahbaz Sajid |
Staff Reporter |
Daily Times
|
Malik Safdar Abbass |
Correspondent |
Nawa-i-Zindagi
|
Abdul Waheed |
Correspondent |
Daily Express
|
Rao Fazalur Rehman |
Correspondent |
The News
|
Khurshid Jeelani |
Information Department
|
Ch. Mohammad Maqsood Ahmed | |
Bureau Chief |
Daily Jeway Pakistan
|
Tariq Khan |
Bureau Chief |
Daily Sahafat
|
Shama Saeed |
Mrs. Birket Mirza | ||
` Munawar Zaheer
|
||
Amina Zaheer
|
||
Fareeha Samreen
|
||
Rabia Tahir
|
||
Mrs. Shahnaz Maqsood
|
||
Saira Tariq
|
||
Farkhanda Jabeen
|
||
Mukhtar Begum
|
||
Safdar Hussain
|