Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that there should be no discrimination in the release of government advertisements to different media outlets.

“Government ads should be given without discrimination,” Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar asserted while hearing a suo motu case regarding hefty advertisement expenditure by the provincial governments using taxpayers’ money.

“We don’t differentiate between different newspapers,” the CJP said, adding that the issue would be scrutinised separately. “We would make a single and clear policy on placement of ads.”

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government informed the Supreme Court that the provincial government did not indulge in self-glorification in advertisements. Information Secretary Qaiser Alam informed the court that he had been unable to find pictures of both Imran Khan and Pervez Khattak in the advertisements published by the provincial government during last three months from December 1, 2017, to February 28, 2018.

Chief Justice of Pakistan says court will come up with clear-cut policy on ad placements

In response to a question on why the KP government had spent a huge amount of Rs 240 million on advertisements, the official responded that the advertisements were for public awareness and feedback.

The additional advocate general of Punjab also submitted a report to the apex court. He responded in affirmative to the CJP’s question about the pictures of political leaders placed in advertisements of the Punjab government. “Who will pay for the personal glorification of leaders?” Justice Nisar asked, further inquiring if a previous payment of Rs 5.5 million had been submitted by the chief minister for using his picture on government ads.

Party leaders must return the money for the advertisements with their photos in them, the CJP ordered, adding that the Supreme Court does not want pictures of political leaders to be placed in government advertisements.

A journalist called for the court to set up a fact-finding committee or draft a law or ombudsperson for the purpose of investigating the incidents of financial arm-twisting of media outlets.

KP proudly tells SC not a single AD featuring Imran Khan carried in last three months

The CJP questioned whether provincial governments should issue guidelines regarding the placement of advertisements. “Yesterday, we found out that the Indian Supreme Court issues guidelines on this matter,” he said.

“Under what laws are MNAs and MPAs being given funds in the run-up to the general election?” the CJP asked. “Prior to the election, money is openly distributed under the guise of development funds,” he pointed out.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial pointed out that the funds used for advertisements were taken from the national kitty. The CJP said the court would order the provincial government to return such funds to the exchequer.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday welcomed the probe into media campaign run by his party’s government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In a statement on his official Twitter account, the PTI chief said, “We welcome the CJ probe into adverts where SS was told to return the taxpayers’ money he spent on personal publicity.”

“Nowhere in the world is taxpayer money used so shamelessly for personal publicity as in Pakistan. No wonder people are reluctant to pay their taxes,” he said.

In another tweet, he said, “PTI welcomes SC probe into KP govt adverts where the official policy is that neither the CM nor ministers allowed to put their pics on govt ads. In almost 5 yrs KP govt spent only Rs 1.6 bn – miniscule compared to Punjab where S Sharif spent massively with his face on govt ads.”

Published in Daily Times, March 14^th 2018.