Government issues a directive of prohibiting civil servants from speaking on social media platforms without prior approval.
The Establishment Division released an official memorandum. The memorandum asserted that under present government rules, no civil servant is allowed to speak on social media without the approval of the government. Civil servants are also barred from sharing any official documents or information with unauthorized employees, citizens, or the press.
The memorandum has also stated that civil servants are not allowed to share facts or express opinions that could damage the government’s reputation.
Additionally, they are prohibited from making comments against government policy, decisions, national sovereignty, or the dignity of the country.
They are also not allowed to share opinions that could damage the relations with other countries or engage in social media debates with impartiality. This directive instructs all civil servants from all institutions. Violation of these guidelines may result in the misconduct proceedings against the offender.
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Government agencies are instructed to strictly monitor their social media platforms to remove any objectionable content. All federal secretaries, additional secretaries, department heads, and chief secretaries have been tasked with ensuring compliance with the guidelines.
The memorandum clarified that the aim is not to prevent the positive use of social media. The latest directives have been issued followed by the incident of a Punjab police officer posting his video on social media. In the said video, the police officer was seen pointing hiS finger to a police van with a number ‘804’. A song played in the background of the video.
The video instantly grabbed the attention of social media users. ‘804’ is the set of number associated with the prisoner number of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. However, it is not clear that these directives have been issued particularly in regards to this incident.