The top officials of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and its attached departments are reportedly upset at the "unnecessary" expansion of Strategic Media Communication Cell (SMCC), headed by Prime Minister's daughter Maryam Nawaz.
In background discussions with various officials of the information services group of the Information Ministry, officials expressed serious reservations at the establishment of the cell in the presence of the well equipped ministry as well as the information department, for which the government allocates billion of rupees funds in the budget.
"There is no justification for SMCC in the presence of already functional information ministry and the relevant information department...such a cell is only extra burden on the national exchequer and to give official cover to their blue-eyed", said a senior official of the information group who requested not to be named.
The cell was established through a public advertisement in February 2015 and now a summary has been forwarded to the Prime Minister for approval of inclusion of more members into the cell.
Established in the PM Secretariat, the 15-member cell is functioning under the supervision of Maryam Nawaz and the sources said that five more employees have been inducted into the cell from Ministry of Information Technology.
The sources further said that a request has also been made with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to provide 20 more employees to join the team, besides providing Rs2.8 million additional funds from the ministry.
Initially established at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with a view to launching social welfare campaigns of various government departments on subjects like polio eradication, energy conservation school environment, environmental issues, viral diseases and anti-terrorism campaigns etc, the purpose of the cell has shifted to gaining political leverage.
The team, according to the sources, mostly comprises of those who were previously working with Maryam Nawaz. One of the team members, the sources claimed was also a tutor of Maryam Nawaz's children and another lady employee who looks into the affairs of social media had mentioned in her CV that she has a 'facebook' account as the relevant experience for the position.
According to the advertisement published on February 27, 2015, the designations of working staff under the title 'executive level positions' starts from social media activist [four managerial positions] with a monthly of Rs45,000 each, social media content developer/researcher [2 managerial positions] Rs60,000 monthly each, social media graphic designer [two managerial positions] Rs60,000 monthly each, researcher media [4 managerial positions] against Rs60,000 each, IT developer/manager [One senior managerial position] against Rs200,000, communication idea developer [one senior manager] Rs200,000 and co-ordinator media cell [director level one position] against Rs300,000.
When contacted Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervez Rashid, his cell phone was coming switched off despite repeated attempts. Dr Musaddiq Malik, spokesperson for the PM House, was also not available for comments.