Very area has some unique features which distinguishes it from the rest yet once a scholar rightly said ‘’Talent, mannerism and rich culture, thy name is Kohat’’. This city is blessed with such a fertile land that has produced men and women of unmatched skills and caliber. Starting from Haji Bahadur Baba, Justice M.R Kiyani, Justice Ibne Ali, politician like Nawazada Azmat Ali Khan, renowned bureaucrat Mrs.Rukhsana Rehman up to late Governor Syed iftekhar Hussain Shah, this beautiful city has produced such gems which always shine high. But the newest addition to such stalwarts is that of Mr Shibli Faraz.
Being the son of the world renowned legendary poet Ahmad Faraz, Mr Shibli has proved himself such a politician who is a true representative of Pakistanis Middle class who believe in hard work and constant struggle to achieve its goals. Like his uncle Masood Kousar ex-Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he also opted to enter the political arena for the betterment of the poor masses. Instead of going for traditional political parties he chose a relatively new party i.e Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf.
Initially a pilot at Pakistan Air Force but later switching to an investment banker by profession and then a civil servant, Mr Shibli has now preferred politics as a full time career. Within a short span of time he managed to become the close confident of Imran Khan. That’s the reason that Imran Khan chose him to lead the government benches at the August Senate of Pakistan. Known for his polite behaviour and gentleman posture, he is respected by both the ruling and opposition members. But now at this critical juncture when the PTI led coalition government is under microscopic scrutiny of opposition, media and other segments of society.
The people of Pakistan after voting PTI into power are expecting drastic changes in their economic, social and other spheres of life. Since media was getting critical of the performance of the government so prime minister decided to field one of the best batsman of his team by appointing Senator Shibli Faraz as Federal Minister for information and Broadcasting. No doubt Mr Shibli is a competent person yet he has been assigned a daunting task comprising of many tough challenges.
The very first thing he has to deal with is to counter the impression that both electronic and print media is under some sort of pressure nowadays. Some circles are portraying as if this coalition government has some problem with the working of media. They blame that due to lesser financial support from the ruling side, different media houses are compelled to downsize their staff and even close some media outlets. But this issue is more of a communication gap between government and media than some sort of a pressure. It is expected that senator Shibli Faraz will be able to bridge the gap between the two sides. Another challenge which he is going to face is that of social media. No doubt the advent of cyber media, the traditional print and electronic media is losing the sizable portion of its viewers which has further shrunk its revenue figures. The social media has changed the very fabric of our society that every person with a smart phone has assumed the role of citizen journalist, critic, analyst, judge and so on.
The government in order to regulate the usage of this media introduced some regulations in 2019 but they were strongly resisted by the users, human rights activists and civil society organizations. Later the federal government formed Committee to review it. Now the new Information minister has to take all the stakeholders on board to develop a common minimum agreement over the regulation of social media by keeping the aspirations of both domestic and international partners. The real challenge for him will be how to further enhance the image of PTI regime in the eyes of common masses at the home ground and at the world community level. He has to ensure that all the good policies, actions and achievements of the government are not only propagated in a formidable manner but the peoples participation is ensured at all levels of decision making. The information minister is the face of any executive organ of a state yet PTI under the premiership of Imran Khan has places a good personality to represent its governance. Only time will tell whether he will live up to the already sky high expectations of people.
