LAHORE-The new Government's casual approach to tackle  issues of national importance was also reflected in its handling of Prime Minister Gilani's media team, whose seven, out of total 13 members, could not accompany the PM to the USA on Saturday last due to inefficiency of the concerned ministries. The media team was largely mishandled by ministry of information headed by Ms Sherry Rehman and the ministry of foreign affairs, both at home and abroad. The information ministry had short-listed 13 senior journalists to accompany the PM, out of which six could not board PM's special plane as the ministry of foreign affairs could not manage timely issuance of American visas for the journalists who faced a lot of embarrassment when they were told at the eleventh hour that necessary clearance from US department of homeland security could not secured for them. Those, expert in making mess out of simple matters were assigned the task of handling visa matters of journalists, supposed to accompany the prime minister during his visit to the USA. This all happened due to lack of coordination between the concerned ministries and their casual approach to deal with important issues. To add insult to injury, the few media persons who were taken to the USA as part of prime minister's entourage for coverage of his visit, were subjected to severe mental torture at the hands of Information Minister, Ms Sherry Rehman and Pakistan envoy to the US, Mr Hussain Haqqani, whose haughty behaviour perturbed them a lot. By doing so, both Ms Sherry and Mr Haqqani virtually left no stone unturned to sabotage PM's visit by annoying the journalists. It was first visit of PM Gilani to the US, and hence needed wider coverage in local as well as international media from Government's point of view, given its importance in the current political scenario at home, especially in the context of war on terror being fought on Pakistan's border. The disproportion in PM' media team was visible. Three journalists from one media organisation were travelling with the PM, while three leading newspapers had no representation at all. No person was ready to accept the responsibility. The concerned officials in ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of information were seen passing the buck on each other. An hour before departure time of the PM plane on Saturday morning, the officials in Ms Sherry Rehman's ministry were totally unaware of the development that seven journalists had not been issued visas to travel with the PM. The matter was also brought into the notice of Ms Rehman, who did not even had the moral courage to talk to the media men who could not be issued US visas in time. Meanwhile, the representatives of local and national media voiced strong protest over what they described as contemptuous attitude of Information Minister Sherry Rehman and Pakistan envoy to US Hussain Haqqani during the press briefing at Washington after the meeting between President Bush and Premier Gilani. These journalists were also stopped from attending the dinner hosted by Haqqani for the prime minister. During his briefing to the journalists on the eve of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani visit to US, Hussain Haqqani once again adopted the path of confrontation and used harsh words against the media men. On unduly pleading US case, when the journalists asked if he was Pakistan envoy to US or US envoy, Haqqani got infuriated. Hussain Haqqani had pinned badge of US flag on his coat besides Pakistan flag in foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi reception. A diplomat commented Haqqani holds "dual citizenship" and he is "loyal to both of the countries". Information minister Sherry Rehman also toed the line of Haqqani and clashed with the media men on several occasions. She exhorted the journalists to "learn the norms of press briefing". Upon it a reporter of local newspaper gave a tit for tat reply saying whether she had come here to give briefing on government stance or has come here in the capacity of school headmistress.