1/n I've been approached by several learned people, including a respected public policy practitioner, about why I have an issue with young men and women being inducted to the Digital Media Wing (DMW). I owe them an explanation.

2/n Profiles of each and every inductee in the DMW are impressive. My thread also confirms their acumen, skillset and practical experience. However, 'talent' and 'skillset' cannot be cited to overlook three fundamental questions.

3/n

Q1: What were the TORs for the selection (not application) process?

Q2: Why is lax criteria not replicated in other govt bodies except MoIB?

Q3: What differentiates the roles/ responsibilities of DMW from existing Cyber Wing?

4/n Ref Q1, I've acknowledged the skillset of Imran Ghazali who has immense experience. In fact, he must be earning much more from pvt sector what he could ever in MP-II scale. Why opt for public sector then? Why not leave the playing field for other deserving candidates?

5/n Imran has consulted for several NGOs including media agencies. A meagre salary of MP-II scale is peanuts, by contrast. He could have continued advisory to Govt of Pak on pro-bono basis. Too many things are amiss...

6/n There's a saying in the govt sector that some depts do 'khaana-puri' by posting public ads as they have already selected names to induct. At some point or the other, we all have paid and qualified for tests in which everyone is mysteriously 'not approved'.

7/n Each year, young men and women scout for ads to make their way to the public sector. They print their CVs, attest their documents, in some cases sit for exams after paying application fees to pass through rigorous processes...

8/n ...simply because 'rigour' is what the state machinery is good at. Viciously subjecting men and women to pass through the grind of humiliation, back-and-forth huddling, referrals etc so that they can become a 'govt officer' (even if contractual)

9/n Unfortunately, the Govt of Pak's policies including Establishment Division and federal/ provincial public service commissions' criteria are too rigid to allow the skills-based induction of young (I repeat 'YOUNG') professionals except through annual competitive exams.

10/n Ref Q2, why has the Govt of Pak not replicated lax criteria for other bodies such as Climate Change, Health, Interior, Defence, Education etc? Would the state not benefit from young, creative talent with fresh thinking there also?

11/n One plausible explanation is that only the MoIB is directly concerned with 'image building' of the govt, therefore recruits are actually 'doing something'. Young recruits in other bodies would not necessarily accrue political benefits for the ruling govt, whichever it be.

12/n During PML-N govt, social media specialists, many of them trolls by online behaviour, were inducted to a new 'Strategic Media Comm Cell (SMCC)' AFTER a similar ad by MoIB. Some of them included current heads of PML-N SMTs. PML-N era SMCC and PTI-era DMW, no different.

13/n Consider the example of my open source observations regarding an article in The News by a DMW officer praising the PM (not the initiatives themselves) and some officers interacting with an influential PTI SMT leader Musa Virk, a patron of different troll farms, himself one.

14/n The dangerous precedent set by PML-N has been carried forward by the PTI which, ironically at the time, ran campaigns critiquing the appointment of SMCC personnel who also possessed experience in digital content creation and management. I know the names.

15/n Double-standards must be highlighted, even if it means that the same troll farms operating under ruling govt's patronage initiate targeted abuse against those who point out misconducts. What is wrong, is wrong, whether it was during the PML-N regime or the incumbent PTI.

16/n Ref Q3, the MoIB's existing Cyber Wing is ALREADY mandated for handling official social media accounts, positive image building, countering fake news, analytics and creative content manufacturing, everything which the ruling govt claims DMW is setup for.

17/n An experienced bureaucrat from the Information Group leads Cyber Wing as Director General. Unlike the generalist officers in PAS/ DMG, officers from cadres such as Info Group are subject specialists trained in their disciplines.

18/n There is absolutely no rationale for a parallel, new wing with overlapping mandates, duplication of effort, procurement of additional human/ financial resources at the cost of the taxpayer money.

19/n Recruits could have been sent to existing Cyber Wing. But to setup something distinct in parallel through ECC's approval and operate without sufficient bureaucratic oversight indicates objectives are political and official record-keeping/ scrutiny may be inadequate.

20/n Equally complicit in this charade are those babus who allow political regimes to bypass protocols and procedures for handpicked elements to enjoy perks and privileges without the due competition 'enjoyed' by ordinary professionals like you and me.

21/n If we had bureaucrats with a sense of responsibility and professional ethics in place, they would have resisted exploitation of taxpayer money during various political regimes post the military dictatorship era.

22/n So I ask those criticising my observations, will you ask the Govt of Pak to shut down Cyber Wing or the nascent DMW? Either one must be closed to ensure public money isn't wasted. The existence of both is simply unjustified.