ISLAMABAD - The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders are confident of getting off the hook in the Panama Leaks case but the party was worried about the negative media perception for which the PML-N media managers were tasked by the Prime Minister to revisit the media strategy.
Sources in the government said that the party top leadership was worried about the worsening media image of the Prime Minister and his family on the Panama Leaks and mounting criticism on them about their changing stance on the issue both on legal front and in media, for which the party’s media managers were directed to reshape their strategy to counter the onslaught on the Prime Minister and his family in media.
Sources in the party said that it was decided that from now on besides the young party leaders like Talal Ch, Danial Aziz, Abid Sher Ali and Tariq Fazal Ch, senior and sober elements in the party would be engaged in defending the party’s case at media talk shows and in public so that the masses could be saved from swaying away in opposition’s propaganda. Sources said that the Prime Minister was quite satisfied with the performance of his legal team and the only think irking the party leadership was the electronic and social media where the party seemed a bit lagging behind the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf.
Sources in the PML-N informed that the media cell functioning under the supervision of Maryam Nawaz, which become dormant in the recent past for some unknown reasons, was activated again and now the PML-N people would be coming up with a strong and befitting response to the PTI critics and all those against grilling the ruling PML-N and Sharif family on social media.
Sources said that the party leadership was of the view that with the appearance of senior cadre at media talks shows would help rebuild the party’s image eroded quite sharply over the past few weeks on the Panama Leaks case and what many dubbed as the continuous wavering position of the ruling PML-N leadership on it. Under the new strategy, the party MPs would not only defend the party’s position on the issue but would come up with counter attack and criticism on the PTI leadership and would drag their cases in media to push them (PTI leaders) on defensive position as a number of PTI leaders’ names, including its chairman Imran Khan, had appeared in the list of those who were either having offshore companies in the past or still holding them.
Under the counter-strategy, it was further decided in a series of meetings held under the top party leadership that the disqualification cases against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his close aides pending with the Election Commission of Pakistan must be pursued vigorously and on each hearing of these cases the same should be played up on media through the party’s hawks like Talal and Danial.
Under the revamped media strategy, it was further decided to go soft on the other opposition parties mainly the Pakistan People’s Party. All the party’s MPs and senior leaders were given strict instructions not to respond in the same tone to the harshest statements and criticism of the PPP leadership on the government and Prime Minister and his family.
Besides re-devising the media strategy, the ruling PML-N was already in backchannel contacts with other opposition parties, including PPP, and wanted to appease them by accepting some of their demands like the one made by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. A source in the PML-N confirmed to The Nation that the government was prepared to accept some of the genuine demands of the PPP remaining within the ambit of constitution and law of the land.