Imran Khan's public contact on telephone

 Imran Khan's public contact on telephone                                                                     

The Pakistani government says Prime Minister Imran Khan will speak to the public by telephone Monday (today) in connection with a public relations campaign.

According to Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz, the program titled "Your Prime Minister, with you" will start at 4 pm on Monday and the phone line will be opened. According to the ruling party's announcement in this regard, the people will ask questions directly and the Prime Minister will answer them.

The people have also been given a landline phone number to tell Imran Khan about their problems.

It will be known by this afternoon how lucky the population of about 22 crore will be to be able to take their questions directly to the Prime Minister. However, some PTI social media accounts sought to give the impression that perhaps no prime minister in Pakistan had made such direct contact with the public in the past.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Senator Faisal Javed Khan said on Friday that Prime Minister Imran Khan would call the people on Sunday, April 4, at 11:30 am.

According to Senator Javed, the Prime Minister will answer people's questions directly.

Anyone who wants to ask a question to the Prime Minister can call 051-9224900.

Senator Javed had earlier said that the Prime Minister could be called on April 4, but he did not provide time.

 He said that the Prime Minister's talk with the people would be telecast live on television, radio and digital media.

The last time the Prime Minister called the people was on March 28 for the New Pakistan Housing Scheme.

Earlier, in January, a similar announcement was made, encouraging people to make their calls and talk directly to the Prime Minister about the issues they want to talk to the government about.

In his first speech since becoming prime minister, Prime Minister Imran Khan also promised that he would be "accountable" to the people twice a month in the National Assembly "at question time".

Over the past year, his conversations with people on social media in video messages or on television addresses have largely focused on corona virus epidemics, urging people to exercise caution and the importance of wearing masks. Understand that Pakistan can successfully reduce the spread of the virus.            

According to a message on PTI's social media accounts, "for the first time in Pakistan's history, the people of the country will be able to speak directly to their Prime Minister on the phone."

There have been instances in Pakistan in the past when prime ministers or presidents tried to communicate with the people by telephone or in open court.

The move is being hailed in some quarters, but some observers say it is not a sustainable way to solve public problems, but rather a means of publicity.

But listening to public issues over the telephone is not a new method, and similar communication campaigns have been conducted before.

Mushahid Hussain Syed, a former federal information minister under former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, told the BBC that Nawaz Sharif had started a series of telephone calls to the public in 1997-98, and that toll-free numbers were now available to the public. Was done, through which people communicated and orders were issued to solve their problems.

During Nawaz Sharif's rule, journalist Matiullah Jan was a reporter for Pakistan Television.

He told the BBC that when Nawaz Sharif as the Prime Minister listened to the problems of the people, it was his (Matiullah's) duty to interview the head of the concerned institution about which the complaint was made and to address the complaint. Ask questions about, then these questions and answers were broadcast.

In 1997-98, the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also started a series of telephone calls to the people

Mushahid Hussain Syed says that although there was a dictatorship in the time of former military dictator Zia-ul-Haq, he was a more popular ruler than the four generals who enforced martial law in Pakistan.

He said that Zia-ul-Haq did not make any direct telephone calls like this but he used to answer messages or questions received by telephone from 11 pm to 1 am.

He said that he was a journalist in the time of Zia-ul-Haq. When he once asked, "Do you have time to attend weddings and funerals?", Zia-ul-Haq said that since he is not a public representative, He talks to people on the occasion and seeks their advice and public opinion.

Mushahid Hussain said that Imran Khan had promised that he would answer questions in Parliament one day a week. "I wish they would keep their promise."

PPP leader and former Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said that in the last days of Nawaz Sharif's 1997 tenure, he had tried to make such a public call by telephone, after which his government was overthrown in a few days. ۔

He said that in the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, open courts were held regularly, which was the most effective means of public communication. Qamar Zaman Kaira said that in the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, public elected representatives at divisional or district level. People were contacted through the media and people's problems were heard and solved in these open forums.

Mushahid Hussain said that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the first politician who "brought politics out of the drawing room and went to open courts where immediate orders were issued." 

How effective is public contact over the telephone?

Speaking to the BBC, Muhammad Ismail, a resident of Peshawar, said that public relations was the right of an elected Prime Minister and should be, and that it would be a good thing if it could help solve people's collective problems. ۔

"But that doesn't seem to be happening because only a select few will be picked up on the phone and advertised." 

Qamar Zaman Kaira, a former federal information minister, says the government acknowledges its failure with such telephone calls because the main sources of government public relations are the bureaucracy, the media and public representatives.

He said that no such attempt was made during the tenure of Benazir Bhutto but the people were contacted only through public and elected representatives.

Journalist Matiullah says that on the basis of a similar exercise under Nawaz Sharif, he can say that "this is not an effective method" but a propaganda campaign.

"If people's problems are to be solved, institutions must be strengthened where people realize that everything is not in the hands of a single individual, but where they go at the grassroots level.