Govt’s media team lost in translation

• With Maryam Nawaz, Leila Khan, Marvi Memon, Danyal Aziz, Mohammad Malick already running the media show at PM House, bureaucrat Fawad Hassan Fawad jumps in to defend deals with foreign countries

Amidst severe criticism by the media, civil society and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over “shady deals being made by the federal government with several foreign companies”, an army of defenders, including senior bureaucrats, have emerged to shield the government, complicating the job of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s dedicated mouthpieces.

The premier’s media team appears to be lost in translation and the vulnerability has gone to an extent where civil servants are being asked to defend the government’s policies, in violation of civil service servants’ code of conduct. With too many cooks having their say on the broth, the government appears to be losing the argument.

WHERE ONE JOB FITS ALL:

A media cell is covertly working under the leadership of Maryam Nawaz Sharif who is being supported by advisor Leila Khan, niece of journalist Najam Sethi. Moreover, Marvi Memon, Danyal Aziz, anchorperson and PTV MD Mohammad Malick and some others are also assisting Maryam, while a social media team of experts is also working to counter the opponents’ narrative.

Separately, a parallel role has been assumed by PM’s spokesperson Dr Musaddiq Malik, who apparently lacks media management but somehow has managed to convince the premier about his media handling abilities.

Moreover, Planning & Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is involved in agreements being signed with the foreign governments and companies, is also supporting building the government’s media narrative.

Furthermore, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Irfan Siddiqui chairs the meeting of media chiefs, which is also attended by Information Secretary Mohammad Azam, press information officer (PIO) and representatives of all state media houses, including PTV, APP, PCB (Radio Pakistan), on a daily basis to defend the government.

MORE COMING IN:

As if all these were not enough to take on the opponents, Fawad Hassan Fawad, a serving Grade-21 bureaucrat who is considered the most powerful additional secretary at PM Secretariat, has also jumped in to save the prime minister from criticism.

Recently, Fawad, who has been authorised to finalise the postings and transfers of his superiors, even Grade-22 officers, has not only attended talk shows to defend the government’s agreements with foreign companies but also his interviews are being pushed by the officers of the Information Ministry for coverage in media.

However, this new entry is being watched with surprise as no serving civil servant can defend the policies of the government in media.

GOING AGAINST THE CODE:

A recently retired establishment secretary, while talking to Pakistan Today, said that the code of conduct for the civil servants had categorical restrictions over the bureaucrats.

“A civil servant cannot, in any term, defend the government’s policies while representing the government. He is an employee of the State and not the government,” said the retired officer. He said that the code did not allow any officer to represent the government.

“Code of conduct strictly prohibits the public servants to directly engage themselves with media until they are not appointed as official spokespersons of any government organisation. However, it seems that the media team of the prime minister has totally failed to defend the government, hence a serving bureaucrat has been asked to interact with media or he is doing so to prove himself more loyal,” the retired bureaucrat maintained.

“Moreover, if the competent authority gives approval for any civil servant to clarify media in any specific matter, the bureaucrat can do so. But in this case, Fawad Hassan Fawad has not been appointed a spokesman by the competent authority so he can’t work to defend the government’s policies,” he added.

FAWAD HAS BEEN ‘AUTHORISED’:

When contacted, prime minister’s official spokesperson Dr Musaddiq Malik said that Fawad had been authorised by the ‘competent authority’ to go to talk shows and defend the government’s policies.

Asked whether the competent authority was the prime minister, Malik said, “You may assume so.” Dr Musaddiq later claimed that he had asked Fawad to attend the talk shows and defend the contracts signed with China.

“Since I am the in charge of prime minister’s media cell, I had asked him to go and explain the specific questions being raised by the opposition and media about the alleged irregularities in the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) being signed with China,” said Dr Malik.

He added that he wanted if there were some irregularities in the contracts the government may like to stand corrected.

“Now since Fawwad has been coordinating with the China cell and all files are being handled by him directly, I asked him to go and defend the MoUs in media as he had knowledge of all the technical queries,” he asserted.

He said that he was unaware of the fact that it was a breach of the civil servants code of conduct and asked Pakistan Today to enlighten him which clause of the civil servants code of conduct barred the civil servants directly interacting with the media.

He said that he would stand corrected if this interaction by Fawwad was in violation to the civil servants code and would not ask any civil servant in future to attend media talk shows in breach of the law.