LAST week, headline news on a leading private TV channel revealed that ‘a Sharif family meeting in Murree has approved the Punjab provincial government’s expansion’. The report simply reflects how the affairs of the government in the country’s biggest and most powerful province have virtually become a family enterprise.

There is nothing new about the dynastic stranglehold on Pakistani politics. But the kind of family rule that prevails in Punjab tells the story of an increasingly regressive power structure. Apparently, not only are decisions on important policy matters taken during family meetings, there is also a government-sponsored move to build a personality cult around former prime minister and head of the Sharif family Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, Punjab’s chief minister.

It seems that most major government development projects in the province are named after either of the two. There has also been a move to rename some of the old government-run projects after the chief minister. Meanwhile, the provincial government has been running massive ad campaigns praising its own performance in various spheres, with life-sized pictures of the chief minister. Many also carry the image of her father.

This publicity drive is apparently being carried out at government expense. Recently, posters referring to the chief minister as ‘Madr-i-Millat’ (mother of the nation) appeared in the province. This campaign may not be sponsored by the provincial government but has certainly been orchestrated by the ruling........

© Dawn