ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Television has for the first time in its historystrongly criticised the sitting government and the political party over acontroversial incident.

PTV’s reporting of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and hisfamily’s usage of a government jet and an incident involving FederalMinister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed and his protocol were aptly reportedby PTV, garnering praise from citizens.

The Punjab CM had first used a plane with his family for a personal tripand then took an official helicopter to Mian Channu to condole the death ofthe father of his close friend.

According to the news broadcast on PTV on August 28, “The news of CMBuzdar’s hand in the Pakpattan DPO’s transfer had not calmed down when anew issue sprung up. He is now reportedly air-travelling on officialhelicopters and planes, sparking outrage on social media.”

Earlier on August 20, Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry hadannounced the government’s decision to make PTV and Radio Pakistanindependent and apolitical organisations.

Fawad had underscored the need to transform traditional mechanism ofdisseminating information and news on the state-run TV channel andexpressed his resolve to make the corporation independent and depoliticisedsimilar to foreign media outlets.