PTV faces backlash over lavish pay packages for anchors

ISLAMABAD: A recently surfaced document has revealed that several anchors hired during the current government’s tenure in Pakistan Television Corporation (PTVC) are receiving extraordinarily high pay packages, raising serious questions about financial discipline and public spending at the state-run broadcaster.

According to the document, a copy of which is available with Daily Ausaf, at least 20 anchors and analysts have been appointed on either contractual or program-to-program bases, many of them drawing salaries in the hundreds of thousands, even millions, of rupees per month.

Among the highest-paid, Sadia Afzal, designated as an anchorperson, is reportedly earning Rs. 1.765 million per month. Anchor Maria Zulfiqar Khan follows closely with a package of Rs. 1.168 million, while anchorperson Benish Saleem and anchor/analyst Najm Wali are each drawing Rs. 898,876 per month.

Ameen Hafeez, posted at PTV Lahore, is receiving a Rs. 674,160 pay package, and sports analyst Aaliya Rasheed is getting Rs. 800,000.

Other anchors such as Hammad Hassan, Kaneez Fizza, and Kashan Akmal Imtiaz are also receiving substantial sums ranging between Rs. 250,000 and Rs. 300,000 per month.

The disclosures have triggered public concern over the financial management of PTV, which continues to rely on taxpayer funding and license fees despite its recurring financial crises.