New Delhi: Punjab’s first woman chief minister, Maryam Nawaz, is unapologetically confident about her ‘achievements’. She took out a 60-page advertisement featuring 170 photos of herself to mark her first anniversary since assuming office. Coy is not part of her vocabulary.
But the response has been anything but laudatory. For the most part, the advertisement has been met with shock and outrage given that it was published with public funds.
Former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Farhatullah Babar remarked on the absurdity of the supplement’s scale, calling it a “monstrosity”.
“A newspaper supplement to advertise performance is understandable. But the 60-page supplement today at public expense is a monstrosity. Whosoever placed 170 pictures of Maryam Nawaz Sharif in its first 30 pages has done a monstrous disservice to her & her government,” he wrote on X.
The supplement, which glorifies her leadership, has been labeled a flagrant misuse of taxpayers’ money, with many questioning whether public funds should be used to prop up political egos.
Journalists, politicians and civil society members were up in arms against the ad. Dawn’s foreign affairs and national security correspondent Baqir Sajjad questioned how public funds meant for citizens are being used to prop up political egos.
“This self-promotion reeks of insecurity and disregard for accountability,” he wrote on X.
In the clamour of outrage, one critic took an unusual stand. Sarwar Bari, founder of PATTAN, a prominent NGO in Pakistan raised an environmental concern, and was angered by the unnecessary waste of resources. “What about the environment? How many trees are equal to one page of a newspaper?”
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‘Mary Vanity Vogue’
The controversy intensified as people turned their attention to the nature of the supplement itself. It seemed less about performance and more about Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s personal image, said several detractors.
The supplement, which was paid for by the provincial government, was filled with numerous pictures of the Chief Minister, many of which were styled with her in haute couture, rather than offering a substantive report of governance.
This is how X user Urooj Mansab Khan summed it up: “Something to be said about the state of journalism, but govt ads disguised as newspaper headlines are downright sinister. Sending a whole entire album of your photo ops in print is also just dumb and pointless.”
Majid Nizami, another journalist, used poetry to get his message across. “Chāplūsī ke hunar meñ mujhe yaktā kar de, jo bhī ho mere muqābil use paspā kar de” It roughly translates to “Make me unique in the art of flattery. Whatever is in front of me, push it away.”
This extravagant publication has provided enough ammunition to her political rivals who are trying to convince voters that Maryam Nawaz is a narcissist. Faisal Amin Khan, a Pakistani politician, called it, ‘Mary Vanity Vogue’.
“For some 250 working days in a year, Maryam appears in 291 different dresses,” he wrote sarcastically on X. He added that psychiatrists might diagnose this as “Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)”. “For God’s sake, stop this business of lies,” he concluded in his rant.
Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan also weighed in, raising the point of how the supplement appeared more like a “personal advertisement brochure” rather than a genuine performance review of the government.
In a more humorous take, a Reddit user quipped, “That’s what happens when parents never say no to their kids”.
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