speed from 50 words per minute (WMP) to 1200 WPM, most of which is now directly fed into the computers of the subscribers simultaneously throughout Pakistan and overseas. Subscribers Being the national news agency of Pakistan, APP collects and disseminate domestic and international news to 84 (1992) newspapers of Pakistan besides radio, television and government offices and some foreign media. APP's subscription rates are higher than other agencies in Pakistan, due to its credibility and services. For this reason every newspaper in Pakistan tries to subscribe to its services. Notable newspaper subscribers to APP's services include: Dawn, Pakistan Times, Frontier Post, The Statesman, The Nation, The News International, Business Recorder, The Observer, The Post and Nawa-i-Waqt, Jang, Khabrain, Daily Express (Urdu newspaper), The Express Tribune and some other English and Urdu national newspapers. Staff The number of APP's employees is estimated at between 800 and 1000, of whom over 200 to 350 are journalists and photographers while the rest are administrative staff, including computer engineers, technicians, peons, traffic attendants, data entry operators and finance staff. In addition there are a small number of "stringers" (part-time correspondents) at various district headquarters in Pakistan and aboard. After decades gap the system of journalists posting aboard was revived during the first tenure of Mr. M. Aftab. He secured approval of the Ministry to post four senior journalists as special correspondents in Washington D.C., London, Beijing and New Delhi. The massive political induction by Musharraf government's Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani and subsequently by PPP-led democratic government at federation from 2008 up till now (October 2015) have badly affected the financial position of APP. The organisation is unable to pay medical, telephones, newspapers bills, over time, feature and other allowances. The very unfortunate thing was that the backbone of the organisation are journalists but they are very less in number as compare to other staff members of the entity. Management and financing APP is a government organisation, responsible to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The agency is headed by a Director-General, appointed by the Ministry. Also it has a Managing Director (MD) of APP, appointed by the government. Since the government takeover, APP has continued with an undefined status – neither an official government body nor an independent news outfit, APP has drawn criticism as a mouthpiece for the government of the day. In 1998, however, a Bill was proposed to convert APP