RAWALPINDI, March 16: In a bid to promote Maryam Nawaz – daughter of PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif – as a politician, the Punjab government issued directives to the district administration and universities to invite her as chief guest in all important functions.

A senior City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) official told Dawn on Friday that the CDGR received directives from the provincial government to invite her at the functions.

He said the provincial government has not yet allowed the CDGR to start the distribution of laptops among the students in the district while the students from other districts of the division have got the laptops.

The CDGR planned to distribute 2,500 laptops among Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) on March 3 by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his visit to the city but later changed the programme as the government was willing to distribute it through Maryam Nawaz.

However, the function was still pending as Maryam was busy in some functions in Lahore and other parts of the province. The 2,500 laptops are lying in the office of commissioner and the local administration has to deploy policemen for the protection of the laptops.“It is the discretion of the provincial government to decide who will be the chief guest in the functions regarding launching of its schemes and there is no role of CDGR or education department,” said former Executive District Officer (EDO) Education and Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Rawalpindi Chairman Dr Mohammad Ashraf.

He said the principals and educational institutions' heads were allowed to use their powers for the selection of chief guest in the low level functions.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zafar said the selection of chief guest was not the duty of the local government and provincial government informed it about the personality.

He said the laptops among the students would be distributed in the city after the availability of the chief guest – Maryam Nawaz.

Former MNA and PML-N city General Secretary Haji Pervaiz Khan said the party was not organising a political function in the city in near future and if it did, it would invite Maryam Nawaz. However, he said he was not aware of any such directives issued to government institutions.