LAHORE: The Punjab government on Monday told the Lahore High Court that no decision had been taken to feature the image of PML-N`s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif on Kissan cards.

An additional advocate general stated this during the hearing of a petition alleging that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz approved the farmers’ cards bearing the image of her father, Mr Sharif.

The law officer said the petition was premature as no such decision was on the cards.

At this, petitioner’s counsel Nadeem Sarwar sought to withdraw the petition.

Justice Shahid Karim disposed of the petition as withdrawn and observed that the petitioner can approach the court again if any such decision was taken by the government.

Petitioner Mashkoor Husain pleaded through his counsel that using public funds for personal promotion violated the law and Supreme Court rulings. He said that in a 2018 ruling on a case filed by the PTI against the then chief minister of Punjab, the Supreme Court banned the promotion of political leaders, party flags or emblems by governments.

Similarly, he said, the PTI government in 2020 had to withdraw its decision to place the party flag on the Sehat Insaf Card and rename the card ‘Qaumi Sehat Card’ due to the apex court’s order.

The petitioner argued that the misuse of public funds for advertisements by governments should be a matter of concern for citizens.

He asked the court to restrain the Punjab government from issuing farmer cards with Nawaz Sharif’s image and to recover the expenses incurred for placing the former prime minister’s image on the cards.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2024