And the problem began, not with a whimper but a bang. An open secret got leaked. Messengers and peaceniks came under unseen fire. Mills of whispers and conspiracies started locating the names of those who had failed to save ‘national interest’. The khakis and civilians began doubting each other.

The civilian government ordered a probe into the issue and silence prevailed after repeated denials issued by the government of Punjab, prime minister’s office and some ministers. The ISPR issued official statements expressing its concern over the feeding of false and fabricated news to the media.

As of now, at least one head, that of the information minister, has already rolled. There may be more to follow after the inquiry into the matter is complete.

Against this backdrop, many analysts and politicians in the capital think such an eventuality was bound to happen sooner than later. They point fingers at one Strategic Media Communication Cell (SMCC) that was set up in 2015, and is housed in the prime minister secretariat. Technically, this cell falls under the ministry of information (it’s a subsidiary department), headed earlier by the minister Pervaiz Rashid. But the PM’s daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif is said to be its de facto head. The cell also has informal wings around the globe and in almost 20 cities in Pakistan.

This cell, they claim, has now become a powerful lobbying unit and is being run on taxpayers’ money. Members of the opposition allege that it is being used only against political opponents.

According to sources, the budget for this media cell is coming from the ministry of information and broadcasting with some additional grants released from the prime minister’s discretionary funds.

This cell is being assisted by around 90 people who have an association with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), government departments, research institutes, parliament and private media firms. Social media experts, lobbyists, academia, politicians, lawyers and volunteers are also associated with media-related affairs. Majority of them are being paid by the government while a few of them are working as volunteers.

According to the advertisements to fill the vacant posts at the SMCC, there are different designations like social media strategist, researcher, engineer, incharge photoshop, content developer, digital team member, etc. They all sit at the PM office, PID office, cabinet block, PM Secretariat Raiwind office or at the ministry of planning, P Block and R Block.

As allegations and rebuttals were rife in the country after the controversial Dawn story, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Shireen Mazari said while talking to TNS: "It is shameful how the PML-N is using taxpayers’ money for targeting the opposition, and under Maryam Nawaz who has no official office but has access to public funds. This is clearly illegal and just one more form of PML-N’s corruption."

In conversations with this scribe, the PML-N MNAs Daniyal Aziz, Maiza Hameed, Marriyum Aurangzeb [now the new minister of state for information and broadcasting], Tallal Chaudry and Mohammad Zubair denied Mazari’s allegations.

The basic job of people working with the Strategic Media Communication Cell is to "parachute in to rescue the government" by contesting its case on various fronts. The government has allocated record Rs8.3 billion for the ministry of information and broadcasting and national heritage under the current fiscal year budget, 2016-17. According to sources in the ministry, it plans to spend Rs200 million on films and publication, Rs500 million on Pakistan information departments, Rs700 million on heritage, Rs5.4 billion on Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and Rs600 million are allocated for the main ministry.

There are allegations that the 90 or so media campaigners are annually siphoning off hundreds of millions of rupees. However, Daniyal Aziz, one of the PML-N’s active legislators who are supposed to defend the government policies in the media, rejects the allegations levelled by the opposition parties. "The objective of this media cell was to make media campaigns more efficient in terms of their cost effectiveness, since bulk media buying from different channels is a way to reach more public at diminished cost as well as to buy airtime in advance through the advertising agencies occupying space for their campaigns at lower rates."

Within the government, there is another team that has come to be called "think-tank of federal government" which includes MNAs Tallal Chaudry, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Maiza Hameed, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Daniyal Aziz, Ahsan Iqbal, Leila Khan, Shaista Malik, Pervaiz Rashid and Anusha Rahman. Mohammad Zubair, Barrister Danyal Chaudhry, Irfan Siddiqi, Asif Kirmani and Dr Musadiq Malik also play their due role in forming new strategies for the party. But, ultimately, Maryam Nawaz has the final word.

When asked as to who leaked the controversial story to the media earlier this month, many within this media unit raise fingers at each other.

Senator Farhatullah Babar of Pakistan People’s Party says that "painting the opposition black and white-washing the government at public expense through a mysterious Strategic Media Cell is unconstitutional and illegal. It is a robbery on public exchequer. Splashes from Panama and the dirt of mega corruption have stuck and cannot be unstuck through the antics of a media cell."

He recalls there was much uproar during the last PPP-led government over the special funds that had been placed at the disposal of the information ministry. "But there is deafening silence now over the use of public funds stealthily by the ruling party in the name of strategic communication," he tells TNS adding these are clear indications of "double standards".

Daniyal Aziz chooses to differ. "All efforts are being made to develop and implement the social media marketing plan -- to reach the masses through social media and to evolve a combined communication strategy of electronic as well as social media [in order] to create awareness among the people," he says.

The active members of the PML-N’s media cell have also maneuvered space for publicity of government’s achievements in reputable international publications, like the Economist’s reports, World Bank’s rankings. And they claim to have successfully improved the image of "not only PML-N but also the government of Pakistan in the eyes of international community".

During the investigation and research for this article, this correspondent met various leaders of PML-N and sought the viewpoint of secretary information, principal information officer, information minister, Maryam Nawaz herself and other concerned officials. But no one showed any willingness to speak on this issue.

A few MNAs were kind enough to comment; MNA Maiza Hameed was one of them. "The ministry of information is a government department with a designated minister and secretary and is responsible for the supervision of a number of attached departments. No government servant is being used for any political activity. Like all other parties, only the PML-N office-bearers and parliamentarians give responses on political matters," she says.

Prime minister’s press secretary Mohyuddin Wani, clarifies his own position about the media cell at the PM Office and distances from the strategic media cell, says: "Our press office is independent [at the PM Office]. TNS may discuss it with secretary information or press information officer. I don’t have any interaction with them [SMCC]. They don’t come under the press office [referring to the media office at PM secretariat that is responsible for official press releases and is run by officers of information group] purview both administratively and operationally."

The government is also running a Pakistan Peace Collective Project under ministry of information and broadcasting. Two programmes "Haq Haqdar Tak" and "Pur Azam Pakistan" were being run under this project, responsible for running public service messages through advertisements. But the government was not ready to share details of this programme which is getting huge amounts in the shape of foreign aids.

In addition to it, the government has also spent an estimated Rs400 million on account of advertisements which was paid to 1,296 newspapers and 65 televisions in the country in the last two-and-a-half years, according to sources within the ministry of information. The government was forced to divulge a few details in reply to a question in the parliament.

The policy regarding government advertisements, control of advertisements and placement is the responsibility of the ministry of information which has centralised advertisement policy as prescribed in Chapter One of the common services manual, Vol-I, 1997. The Rules of Business 1973 tell about the policy regarding government advertisement which is based on audit of circulation of publications.

Adnan Rehmat, an independent media expert based in Islamabad, says, "The PM has a right to make his views known through direct statements or through his official spokesmen on issues related to his person. For issues related to his office and cabinet, or even his government in general, there is an elaborate system in the shape of ministry of information.

"Establishing a media cell at the PM house to employ party loyalists paid for with public funds for personal interest is both a breach of trust and a wrongdoing, since it is taking liberties with state resources with suspiciously private gains."

Other parties and their media campaigns

The PML-N is not the only party venturing into this initiative to build its image. Other political parties and institutions also run similar campaigns. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the pioneer party to have started social media campaigns against its opponents as well as for publicity of its own leaders, is said to have spent close to over Rs300 million on its campaigns in media.

According to sources within the party, more than 75 media workers are operating in the party’s media cells in Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and Islamabad. Iftikhar Durrani, Umar Cheema, Anila Khawaja, Rizwan Chaudhry, MNAs Asad Umar, Arif Alvi, Shireen Mazari, Murad Saeed and Shafqat Mehmood, Office of KP Chief Minister and a few cabinet members and Dr Shahzad Waseem are handling the affairs of PTI’s media departments.

PTI’s social media campaign is said to be especially abusive against the ruling party, and there is a similar response by the PML-N. The party is also raising funds through online services (as mentioned on its website) where it is said to have raised funds worth millions of rupees in the last three years.

The social media activists of this party operate in various departments. Dr Shahzad Waseem has been tasked to oversee international media to make party’s strong connections with the international community. But he claims the social media only focuses on party affairs rather than targeting political opponents. "We understand the PML-N’s concerns but social media has power. The fact is that the PTI tigers are not in anyone’s control when it comes to social networking for running campaigns," he says.

The party is said to have spent over Rs500 million for its media campaigns since the 2014 sit-in.

It is also alleged by the PML-N leaders that some funds are being diverted to the media cell of PTI from the KP government. But the PTI leaders brush the allegation aside.

The PPP is considered to have much less aggressive media cells, spending less money as compared to the PML-N and PTI. The party has spent around Rs200 million on its media campaigns in the same period and has a strength of only three dozen media workers. PPP MNA Shazia Marri says, "Social media is inevitable and that is why PPP media cells are being modernised.

"We don’t lag behind the opponents in this race but our main aim is just to keep the workers mobilised across the globe".

About the PPP too, there is a perception that the Sindh government funds its two media cells in Karachi but Senator Saeed Ghani denies this. Overall, the cells are presided by Senators Farhatullah Babar, Saeed Ghani, MNAs Shazia Marri, Nafisa Shah, Faisal Karim Kundi and volunteers working at Bilawal House in Karachi and Lahore.

The military is also often perceived as going overboard to build its reputation. The army’s publicity wing, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), became more active with Brig. Rashid Qureshi under Pervez Musharraf and expanded its wings during General Kayani and General Sharif’s time. With time, the designation of the head of ISPR has been upgraded -- from a brigadier to a Maj. General to now Lt. General. This signifies how cautious the military is about its public perception.

The Foreign Office of Pakistan has also become a vibrant force to respond to media queries depicting the state’s foreign policy. Both ISPR and FO are running their cells or units at public expense.