Islamabad, Pakistan: Leading digital media practitioners, editors of digital news outlets, and content creators / bloggers met with Prime Minister Imran Khan at his residence ‘Bani Gala’ this afternoon.
The meeting, in addition, to the digital media practitioners was attended by key PTI officials including Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari (more commonly known as Zulfi Bukhari), the Special Advisor to PM, and Dr. Shahbaz Gill, the former spokesperson of CM Punjab, and is known for his following on social media platforms.
Imran Khan in the meeting urged the digital media practitioners, especially bloggers, to promote tourism in Pakistan, and drew parallels between Pakistan and Malaysia. PM Imran Khan also reportedly shared an article titled ‘Startling Similarities — Pakistan and Malaysia’ with the participants of the meeting.
He specifically emphasised on industrialisation as a means of combating poverty and said that job opportunities for youth can only be created through industrialisation and vocational training. He also said that the government is currently reviewing options to facilitate those who earn online.
However, some of those present at the meeting termed it an ‘emotional speech’ without much substance.
“I was hoping the PM might give us good news with regards to an online payment portal, which really is the back-bone of e-commerce anywhere in the world, and the absence of which in Pakistan simply means that there can be no progress in our e-commerce industry, but it was, unfortunately, mostly words”, said a participant on the condition of anonymity.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf remains the only political party to present it’s ‘digital policy’ alongside the party’s manifesto ahead of General Election 2018. However, the implementation on said policy seems to be an uphill task for the (now leading) party.
