Caretaker Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi has said that the government would be taking up the issue of a “ghost article”, published in the name of a jailed politician, with the foreign media outlet ‘The Economist’.
“Today, we are writing to the Editor of The Economist about an article purportedly written by Mr Imran Khan,” the minister said in a long thread posted on the social media platform ‘X’.
He said it was “puzzling and disconcerting” that such an esteemed media outlet published an article in the name of an individual who was in jail and had been convicted.
The caretaker government, he said, believed that it was critically essential to uphold ethical standards and promote responsible journalism.
“We would like to know how the editorial decision was made, and what considerations were taken into account regarding the legitimacy and credibility of the content by the The Economist,” Solangi said while referring to the article.
“We would also be interested to know if The Economist has ever published such ghost articles by jailed politicians ever from any other part of the world,” he added.
The minister cautioned that the jailed convicts, if allowed to write to the media freely, would always use the opportunity to air their one-sided grievances.
Meanwhile, Murtaza Solangi said that there was no directives from the prime minister or the federal cabinet for delay in general elections.
Talking to the media outside the Parliament House, the minister said that he did not get a chance to give arguments in the resolution on the postponement of the elections in the upper house.
According to Article 218(3) of the Constitution, it was the power of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct elections, give a date or change the date for elections, he said. “We cannot interfere in the affairs of a constitutional body,” Murtaza Solangi said.
