PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has categorically refuted claims by the federal government and a section of media regarding the award of a “multi-billion rupee ad-contract of print and electronic media campaign” to a company in which certain Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) office-bearers allegedly hold interests.
While talking to media representatives at Peshawar Press Club on Friday, the Advisor to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Information and Higher Education Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani termed the news as a malicious attempt to defame the provincial government, undermine provincial decision making processes and encroach the credibility of individuals against whom the bias is extremely evident.
Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said seeks the burial of corruption by its leadership, especially Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members and divert nation’s focus away from the fair investigation of Panama Revelations.
The minister explained that under the publicity plan dually finalized by the provincial administration, applications had been invited from advertising agencies across the country to register themselves with the provincial government to carry out branding/marketing campaigns on behalf of the provincial government.
As many as 18 advertising companies submitted their credentials and appeared before the “steering committee” whose mandate was to scrutinize the applications and finalize its opinion exclusively on the creative and technical aspects, he said adding that 13 companies were shortlisted.
He further told the reporters that he as the chairman of the steering committee chaired the meeting and hence rule out any kind of misappropriation or violation of the rules of business.
The minister refuted allegations levelled earlier by PML-N leaders Musadiq Malik and Daniyal Aziz that advertisement contract is being awarded to a company in which Senior PTI officials Faisal Javed and Iftikhar Durrani hold interests. He termed their statements baseless, malicious and void of the facts and announced that the provincial government will file a law suit against PML-N, filers of the story and newspapers involved in this obnoxious disinformation campaign for defamation and attempting to mislead the public through false information.
The minister added that the provincial government and the Directorate of Information and PRs have a policy in place according to which advertisements are distributed in the regional, provincial and national media.
The minister further clarified that advertisement contracts will be provided on merit and had categorically maintained that no contract had so far been awarded to any of the applying/selected companies. The decision, according to him, is yet to be made which will be done in consultations with the Chief Minister and authorities concerned.
“Therefore all allegations that contract is being provided to the advertising agency in which Faisal Javed holds interests is completely baseless. He no longer works in any Ad-company and has devoted himself to party affairs. Therefore the question of awarding an Ad contract to the company in which Faisal Javed work is immature and baseless” he concluded.
