ISLAMABAD - After reservation of a verdict in the Panama leaks case by the Supreme Court bench, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has started making efforts to restore its public image enormously tainted during the course of hearing of the case.
Interaction with some party leaders and party sources revealed that during hearing of the case, the general public has become sceptical about the ruling PML-N particularly the Sharif family if not completely slid into negativity.
The party leadership has thrashed out a multi-faceted strategy to modify the state of affairs, the sources said.
As part of the strategy, a host of party leaders have already made their presence felt in the media by attempting to deflect negativities linked to the Sharif family and launching counter-offensive against their detractors by “exposing their scandals and dichotomies”.
On the other hand, the party leadership was busy highlighting the achievements of the government with the prime minister inaugurating one after another development projects to gain public confidence.
The sources told The Nation that after the reservation of judgement, the prime minister held meeting with his legal team at his his Riwind residence soon after his return from Turkey to their opinion on the whole saga.
The sources said that all possible outcomes of the case were discussed threadbare and even the worst possible scenario came under discussion. It was also discussed to frame counter strategies to rebuild the party’s public image.
They said that the party was already in election mode and the inauguration of the development projects, allocation of development funds, direction to complete development projects and other such steps were part of the new strategy.
The sources said that the prime minister has given a clear-cut instruction to the party leaders to focus on public welfare projects particularly the mega projects in their respective constituencies on which the party could rely in next general elections.
Similarly, the Ministry of Finance has also been given direction to release funds for development projects while the Ministry of Planning and Development has also been working on a plan to expeditiously complete the projects under PSDP.
The sources that government was working on a strategy to create jobs and all the ministries and divisions have been given instructions to generate jobs so that they same could be announced and used for the benefit of the ruling PML-N ahead of the next general elections.
The sources said that the government would also execute development projects in constituencies of party parliamentarians to benefit them ahead of the next general elections like the lifting of a ban on provision of new gas connections to constituencies of ruling party lawmakers.
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