Former member of PTI social media team hired at Information Ministry

ISLAMABAD: The government has hired a former member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) social media team at a top position in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Imran Ghazali, a former member of the PTI’s social media team, Ghazali has been hired appointed as general manager of digital media wing (DMW) in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at the Management Pay-II (MP-II) pay scale equal to Grade-21.

The ministry has also acquired the services of five other individuals named Shahbaz Khan, Muhammad Muzammil Hassan, Usman bin Zaheer, Naeem Ahmed Yasin, and Syeda Dhanak Hashmi.

DMW is a wing of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which was set up during running year after cabinet’s approval.  It will work as a strategic unit for the government and will be responsible for providing authentic official updates on digital media, besides looking after digital public relations. 

The newly-established wing is determined to bring revolution in the field of digital media. It also aims at promoting state interests at national and international levels, besides providing a reliable and authentic communication platform. 

The DMW’s duties also include providing digital content for state-owned media and managing and verifying social media accounts of all ministries. It will also boost the presence of all ministries on social media. 

Imran Ghazali is the key person behind ensuring the active presence of Imran Khan and the party on social media. During 2013 general elections, he was appointed head of PTI’s social media team and formed the administrative structure of the team. 

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s focal person on Digital Media, Dr Arslan Khalid clarified reports that all six have been associated with the ruling party, adding that the candidates were top names from the digital media industry. He said apart from Imran Ghazali, who worked with PTI’s social media team till 2016, none has any links to the PTI.

The information ministry said Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved the summary of selected individuals on 20th July, while the recruitment process had started in April.

The minister denied reports that a competitive process was not followed and said recruitments in the digital media wing were made after interviews were conducted by a special selection board.