ISLAMABAD – Pakistanis are outraged after Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shared its official Independence Day Ad without any graphic of founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
The newspaper ad features military leaders, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and President Asif Ali Zardari, leaving many questioning the government’s priorities.
Mushahid Hussain Syed slammed the ad on X, calling it “a shame” that those who owe their positions to Jinnah were being highlighted while the father of the nation was completely ignored. Former federal minister Shireen Mazari echoed the criticism, calling it a deliberate oversight.
PTI described the omission as a “shameful journey” from ignoring Imran Khan to sidelining both Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal, suggesting the move was not accidental but intentional.
This controversy follows a similar uproar on May 28, Youm-e-Takbeer, when Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program, was also left out of official ads.
From August 1 to 14, government billboards across the country have featured leaders, yet conspicuously left out Pakistan’s true national heroes—raising fresh questions about the government’s message on the nation’s most important day.
