‘We switch channels when her ads show up’: Students react to CM Maryam’s promotions

Days after a 60-page advertising supplement in newspapers highlighted Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz’s one-year performance as the provincial chief executive, journalist Mansoor Ali Khan has held a public show at a private educational institution in Lahore, during which he asked students how they reacted to government advertisements.

As per the details, the show featured an interactive session between students, panelists, namely Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Punjab Chief Organiser Aliya Hamza and CM Maryam’s spokesperson Syed Kousar Kazmi, and the journalist himself.

When host Mansoor asked a student how she felt about the Punjab CM’s promotions, the student said that she chose to not watch any of those ads. Asked how she felt when ads suddenly popped up on media channels, the student replied, “We switch channels,” leaving the audience, including the PTI leader, in stitches.

While the student expressed disappointment over the provincial government’s performance and asked Kazmi to “focus less on advertisements”, the spokesperson challenged her, asking to point out a single project that had not actually been introduced.

When asked why incarcerated former premier Imran Khan was not getting any airtime, Kazmi said that they couldn’t arrange a press conference for a convict, adding that contrary to former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s stint in jail under PTI rule, jailed Khan spent hours speaking to his lawyers and journalists.

PTI’s Aliya Hamza was also questioned about Khan’s use of words like “thieves” and “dacoits” for other politicians and the fact that he himself had now been jailed for corruption in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

As Hamza attempted to evade the question, instead saying that Khan was only kept in jail so that the current rulers’ “politics won’t end”, the Mansoor chimed in, asking her whether the PTI considered property tycoon Malik Riaz a “corrupt” man.

If he committed corruption, then he is a corrupt man, she said.

“Don’t you know about it?” the host asked, to which Hamza said that the same should be proven in court.

It merits a mention the debate surrounding government ads comes days after leading newspapers published a 60-page advertising supplement showcasing Nawaz’s one-year performance as CM of Punjab.

Many social media users mocked Maryam Nawaz for focusing on her branding and questioning her marketing technique.