ISLAMABAD: Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa has Monday been appointed as the Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Information and Broadcasting, replacing Dr. Firdaus Ashiq Awan who has now been accused of trying to get 10% commission in government advertisements. Senator Shibli Faraz has been appointed the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting.
It is not yet clear whether he will relinquish his position as the chairman of the National Highway Authority or not after taking up this new responsibility.
Talking to Naya Daur, senior analyst Murtaza Solangi said that this move was unlikely to have a major impact on the government’s media policy because a government’s performance can only be projected positively if it has something to show for it.
He said that Shibli Faraz was unlikely to do something noteworthy in the new role. “We saw Fayyaz ul-Hassan Chohan being replaced by Samsaam Bukhari in Punjab. Bukhari was a reasonable fellow and was removed from the position after a brief stint as the provincial information minister. Shibli Faraz is also soft-spoken and is unlikely to survive in this new position till the end of PTI government’s tenure”.
Solangi said that it was just another public perception maneuver. “Imran Khan makes such changes in his cabinet every few months to give his followers an impression that he is doing something different. But the more the things change, the more they remain the same”, he added.
It is not yet clear whether he will relinquish his position as the chairman of the National Highway Authority or not after taking up this new responsibility.
Talking to Naya Daur, senior analyst Murtaza Solangi said that this move was unlikely to have a major impact on the government’s media policy because a government’s performance can only be projected positively if it has something to show for it.
He said that Shibli Faraz was unlikely to do something noteworthy in the new role. “We saw Fayyaz ul-Hassan Chohan being replaced by Samsaam Bukhari in Punjab. Bukhari was a reasonable fellow and was removed from the position after a brief stint as the provincial information minister. Shibli Faraz is also soft-spoken and is unlikely to survive in this new position till the end of PTI government’s tenure”.
Solangi said that it was just another public perception maneuver. “Imran Khan makes such changes in his cabinet every few months to give his followers an impression that he is doing something different. But the more the things change, the more they remain the same”, he added.