Shahbaz Sharif launches facebook page in desperate effort to attract youth

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has launched his own facebook page in a desperate attempt to garner young voters.

The historic Minar-e-Pakistan jalsa by Imran Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, seems to have sent shockwaves in the PML-N. The party was perturbed by the huge numbers that turned up on the call of the PTI chief, with young people forming the
biggest contingent.

The party and its Chief Nawaz Sharif had been disturbed by Imran’s growing popularity in the urban areas of Pakistan, especially in Punjab which is historically viewed as a PML-N stronghold. They had therefore started exploring ways to counter Imran’s ascendency
months ago but the Lahore rally has brought a new urgency to matters.

Shahbaz Sharif, who is the most popular leader in the PML-N, launching a facebook page is just part of the grand strategy devised by his party to gain a foothold in young voters around the country. The party is already believed to have launched paid propaganda
campaigns on the internet to go along with the many stories they get placed in the local newspapers.

However it is not clear how much of a benefit would be paid off by such steps. The PML-N leadership has become increasingly exposed in recent months, especially in the eyes of the youth who are becoming more politically aware with each passing day.

Shahbaz’s popularity took a huge hit when his own daughter-in-law, Ayesha Ahad, accused the Chief Minister’s son of having her kidnapped by the police and severely beaten, alongside members of her family. Ayesha, whose complaint is not being registered by
the police for fear of the Chief Minister, is the daughter of Ahad Malik. Malik’s commercial plaza in Lahore was also illegally brought down on the orders of the so called “Khadim-e-alaa”, aka Shahbaz Sharif.

Moreover the youth have become increasingly disgruntled by the policies applied by provincial government in Punjab. Many youths rejected Shahbaz’s yellow cab scheme, in which graduates are offered a “bright future” by the Punjab CM as taxi drivers.

The rampant corruption and record breaking crime in Punjab since Shahbaz Sharif took over the office of Chief Minister hasn’t really earned him many young admirers either.

Therefore it will take much more than a facebook page for the Punjab CM to draw in the youth vote his party so desperately needs.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=2809

Posted by Ali Ahmed on Nov 4 2011. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry