An official Independence Day advertisement issued by Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has drawn sharp criticism from political and social circles for omitting the images of the country’s founding father, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and national poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal.
The advertisement, published in major national newspapers and aired on television channels, featured Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari, Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, as well as the chiefs of the Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Air Force. It also depicted cultural and minority representations.
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Former Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed posted the advertisement’s image on X, calling it “shameful” that Jinnah’s portrait was missing, while featuring “individuals holding temporary positions whose stature is owed to the Quaid’s struggle and sacrifices.”
Former federal minister Shireen Mazari described the omission of Jinnah’s image as a “glaring oversight” by the information ministry.
Journalist Hussain Ahmad also expressed surprise at the absence of both Jinnah and Iqbal in the ad, calling it “bizarre.”
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party criticised the move as “a deliberate act, not a mistake,” alleging that since August 1, government-affiliated advertisements and billboards across the country had similarly excluded the portraits of Jinnah and Iqbal.
It further claimed that a similar omission occurred earlier on May 28, Pakistan’s “Youm-e-Takbeer” (Day of Greatness), when government ads marking the country’s nuclear capability did not include the image of the late nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, credited with making Pakistan’s defense impregnable.
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