Advertising may be the art of persuasion; however, the siphoning of public funds for persuading the taxpayers of the purported success of a government is truly not the wisest course of action. Despite this, governments across the globe have been at the forefront of advertising their policies, rallying up support based on populist ideologies. Such advertisements take a toll on the taxpayers purse, hammering the backs of the already impoverished classes of the community, when billions go out of the government treasury, especially in Pakistan. Despite this, provincial and federal governments continue to spend a hefty amount of money on such projects that lack productivity and feasibility in all senses. More concerning was the tabling and later passing of the Punjab Public Awareness and Dissemination of Information Bill, 2025, before the Punjab Assembly, which takes another step to saturate media with ‘self-congratulatory advertisements’.
Mastering the art of perception, Pakistan’s governments since its inception have put actual work second to its advertisements; often spending more on advertising their purported achievements than on achieving them. This is seconded by the data on Pakistan’s Government expenditure between 2013-2022 collected under the Right to Information Act, revealing a total of 8.7 Billion Rupees, being spent in nearly a decade on boasting the government’s ‘achievements’. Even in the recently formulated Budget for the period of 2025-2026, the provision for Media/Publicity and Advertisements is set at a staggering 5 Billion Rupees. It is thus imperative to find the underlying notions of why governments attempt to siphon off huge amounts from the taxpayers’ pocket, and to emphasise the fallacies associated with the Bill mentioned above.
Publicity over Progress?
There are a number of concerning reasons why a government adopts such a modus operandi when it comes to projects it initiates, of which the first is reinforcing its image and bringing a form of legitimacy. The fact that the government needs to bolster its image through such campaigns highlights an underlying insecurity of it being perhaps ‘illegitimate’. It is no secret that the current provincial government of Punjab suffers from this, especially when one looks at the potentially serious allegations of rigging post-2024 polls. More importantly, such advertisements serve to shape narratives in favour — a move not so uncommon worldwide, especially when one looks across the border in China. From a Marxist perspective, this serves to accurately depict the notion of ideological hegemony put forth by Antonio Gramsci. The move by the Punjab Government is nothing more than an attempt to win the consent of subordinate groups through ideological leadership. It serves to feed the values, norms, and interests of the ruling class to the detriment of the working class, whose money funds these campaigns.
These reasons trace back to one root cause of exploitation — populism. Populist leaders tend to employ direct, emotional, and powerful messages in an attempt to gain support for themselves and later exploit their positions for ulterior motives. This is by no means limited to one political party in Pakistan; the ‘Naya Pakistan’ slogan employed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan is the best example of this. Exploiting the minds of the impoverished, giving hopes of a purportedly new Pakistan, he also initiated programmes specific to his slogans. It is not surprising that, notwithstanding enormous promises of a corruption-free Pakistan, he himself sits incarcerated in a corruption case, a notion that is proven to have increased during his tenure. The contemporary PMLN government in Punjab is thus following the footsteps of their arch-rivals, attempting to manoeuvre the way citizens actually feel and feeding perceptions that may or may not be true.
Constitution in Decline
The Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Public Awareness and Dissemination of Information Bill, 2025, on June 16, 2025, which, alongside providing the government the authority to dispense public funds for advertisements, serves to undermine the notion of due process. The proposed law provides the government or a public body with the power to launch public awareness campaigns alongside its parameters, under Sections 3 and 4, respectively. Despite these being undoubtedly contentious, as indicated above, and payments made for such ads scrutinised by the Lahore High Court, there are more serious issues with this law.
Section 6 of the Bill bestows the responsibility for public awareness on the Director General of Public Relations, who shall also act as a ‘redressal forum’ for complaints by persons aggrieved as provided by Section 7. Appeals against the decisions of the Director General can only be heard by the Secretary of the Department, thereby excluding the jurisdiction of the courts from considering such matters, a point that remains highlighted through Section 8 titled ‘Bar of Jurisdiction’. The finality of the Secretary’s decision undermines, firstly, Article 10-A of the Constitution that ensures everyone has the right to a fair trial and due process. This right has been interpreted flexibly by the Apex Court as indicated in the Contempt Proceedings against Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, with it entailing the ‘right to a proper hearing by an unbiased competent forum’. Furthermore, Pakistan’s international law obligations, especially under Article 14 of the ICCPR, require it to ensure that everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal.
As evident from the proposed law, neither the Director General nor the Secretary of the Department is an ‘unbiased competent forum’, which the law requires. This is because there is a clear conflict of interest, thereby providing room for bias to be generated, especially when the Director General, the very person responsible for releasing or publishing the ads, is the first redressal forum. It is thus clear that the right to fair trial as envisaged by the Constitution, the Apex Court, and Pakistan’s international obligations is absent when it comes to the said proposed legislation.
The toll on fair trial on on the one hand, and the impact the Bill may have on the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers at the other, is catastrophic. This doctrine divides a state into three distinct organs, i.e., the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, which operate to ensure the functioning of the state. While not being ‘expressly set out in our Constitution’, the Supreme Court construed this doctrine to be an ‘important and fundamental aspect of constitutional law’. The draft law purports to provide officials of the executive branch with adjudicatory roles, contravening the doctrine of separation explicated above. The inability of the Punjab Government to take into account these important issues and hastily passing the said Bill, amid time constraints, indicates a lack of willingness to abide by entrenched norms of the constitution and human rights.
Conclusion
While the Bill has been passed hastily, it is by no means an end to this matter, considering it contravenes the fundamental right to a fair trial and the constitutional norm of separation of powers. The likelihood of the Bill, once assented to, being assailed before the Constitutional Court remains a major possibility; however, what practical benefit this route may accord is questionable. Where the judiciary tacitly approves of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, the Punjab Defamation Act, 2024, and rules on the legality of trials of civilians in military courts, the chances of the aforementioned proposed law being deemed unconstitutional seem bleak. Regardless, it is a hope that one lives for; a hope that the judges will again stand up and play their roles as promised in their oaths, especially when billions from the government exchequer, constitutional norms, and human rights are at stake.
