Buses in London featuring the pictures of PM Shehbaz Sharif and former premier Nawaz Sharif under the campaign, ‘Emerging Pakistan’ were spotted on Thursday.
The pictures afloat social media with several red buses running on the roads of London with the pictures of PMLN leaders. According to a report, a campaign has been launched on 150 buses by an anonymous businessman. Buses will run through 43 busiest points in London city from early morning till midnight. The campaign is said to last for a month.
The pictures of the buses went viral on social media on Thursday, attracting the attention of users. Internet users raised questions about the design and purpose of the campaign. The anonymous businessman claims the campaign is being run to promote Pakistan.
Fact: Emerging Pakistan is owned by Govt of Pakistan. Stop using tax payers money to promote Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif. https://t.co/RWIy4Rf3yK
— Adeel Raja (@adeelraja) May 6, 2022
Near Oxford Circus #EmergingPakistan pic.twitter.com/8dLCmznXfq
— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) May 5, 2022
Emerging Pakistan on 'bus'? My eyes are surrendering slowly. By the way, who is paying for all this advertisement? Masoomana Sawal! 👀 pic.twitter.com/ueP89ORG8C
— Kajal Manshad (@kajolmanshad) May 5, 2022
A similar bus campaign was launched back in March 2018 featuring the beauty and landscape of Pakistan by the Pakistan High Commission. However, this time Pakistan High Commission says it does not know who has launched this campaign. According to the businessman, the campaign is run to attract foreign investment in Pakistan.
PML-N promoting itself
The criticism has poured in from social media users. A score of users has slammed PML-N for putting pictures of Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif instead of featuring the landscape and culture of Pakistan for the sake of the promotion of the country.
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@SSEHBAI1 @ImranRiazKhan @ImranARaja1 @SdqJaan @AzharSiddique Why tax payer’s money is being spent to promote Notorious Duo (Shehbaz on bail & Nawaz, a convict & absconder) under the garb of slogan entitled“EmergingPakistan”? It is ironic that @CMShehbaz now controls the FBR Pak. pic.twitter.com/SIM6YPFkjl
— Naseer Ahmed (@NahmedCA) May 5, 2022
Emerging Pakistan was a government initiative launched by the Ministry of Commerce to support and promote Pakistan. Hence, the campaign used by a private entity has raised suspicions among users who asked if the taxpayer’s money is used for the self-promotion of the PMLN leaders.
The government has not offered any clarification so far on the campaigns being run in London. Many social media users assume that the campaign is being run by PMLN itself for the promotion of the current government.