Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. PHOTO: AFP

LAHORE: Apparently worried over the pending court verdict over the Panamagate case, the Punjab government seems to have initiated an image-projection campaign with almost a year still to go before the next general elections.



The top court completed hearing of the Panama Papers case and reserved its verdict on February 23. The judgement is likely to be announced by mid-April and all political parties are anxiously waiting for the verdict in order to devise their future strategy.



Similarly, the Punjab government is gearing up for a drive to flaunt its achievements similar to the pre-election political campaigns aimed at winning over voters. The publicity campaign will focus on the development in rural areas, where the majority of the population resides.



The administration has also prepared an eight-year performance report of all mega projects launched during the tenure of PML-N-led government. The report will be released by the Directorate General Punjab Relations in the coming weeks after the chief minister’s approval.



Insiders say the Punjab government is gearing up for early elections in view of the looming Panamagate verdict.



An important meeting was held recently in GOR-1 Lahore where Chief Minister’s Special Assistant on Information and Culture Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, Information Secretary Raja Jahangir, Strategic Reforms Unit head Salman Sufi, Shoaib Bin Aziz and other officers as well as social media consultants discussed about positive projections in media. The officials also discussed weaving the survey results favouring the ruling party announced by the Institute of Development and Economic Alternative (IDEAS) against the main opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and its chief Imran Khan.



The IDEAS survey was conducted in three National Assembly constituencies of Lahore, including the hotly contested NA-122, where the PML-N won by substantial margins in the 2013 general elections.



In the last line of its opening paragraph, however, the review stated the results could not be generalised for all of Lahore, Punjab or Pakistan. But under the same heading, it stated: “The survey findings are an important indication of how political parties need to fine-tune their election campaigns as they gear up for the 2018 election.”Government officers have also been surprised at the conclusions drawn. More surprising is the result of a question on how honest the top political leaders are. The honesty graph puts Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at 41.9% with Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif at 49.3%.



While this depicts the Punjab government was more honest than the federal government, this conclusion may be misleading as PM Nawaz was put against PTI chief Imran whereas Shehbaz was ranked against PPP Chairman Bilwal Bhutto and Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.



Insiders, however, confirmed the government was expecting early elections, if the Supreme Court’s decision goes against the ruling party. Before the political bouts start, the government wants to publicise its image of successfully delivering to the people, an official said while speaking on the condition of anonymity.



“The ruling party wants its stronghold in Punjab to remain intact,” he said. While many large projects, such as the Lahore Metro Train’s Orange Line track, are still under construction, the government is using them as successful initiatives too.



When contacted, Special Assistant Malik Muhammad declared the efforts for a special campaign ‘routine activity’, negating the impression of any new publicity drives.



The information secretary and Shoaib Bin Aziz were not available for comments.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 10th, 2017.