Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab on Information and Spokesperson of provincial government, Hasaan Khawar has said that cause-based journalism is the need of the modern-day. Acomparative analysis of today’s journalistic trends with that of Zafar Ali Khan’s era will reveal the challenges media faced back then, he said.
He said that coercive tactics faced by media in pre-independence times have today been camouflaged in some innovative forms. One can easily find testimonials of such blackmailing in PML-N’s controlled advertisement policy, he stated.
These views were expressed by Hasaan Khawar while addressing a seminar organized by Maulana Zafar Ali Khan Chair and Department of Digital Media, the University Of Punjab in order to pay homage to the journalistic services of Maulana Zafar Ali Khan. He further stated that media blackmailing, benami properties, fake accounts,ridiculing judges and state institutions is the hallmark of Opposition’s political ideology. Pakistan People’s Party, despite the dilapidated situation being faced by the people of Sindh, willingly pays no heed to it except beating the trumpet of its own political martyrdom. He also said that Nusla Tower is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sad story of misgovernance, corruption, illegal constructions and missed promises.
The Punjab Government Spokesperson said that PPP doesn’t even have a candidate in any province. Late Benazir Bhutto’s chain of unity that bound all four provinces has been torn to the last piece, the SACM opined. He said that the development of Punjab is visible to the entire nation except the “royal family”. Hasaan Khawar further said that in NA-133, incidents of pre-poll riggings by PMLN and PPP are disgraceful and unfortunate to the core. He also stressed the need to move towards digital media while adapting to the requirements of the new age, on this occasion.
