Public Relations has been and still is largely practiced as a media relations exercise in Pakistan. At best and more recently efforts are being made to engage directly with the masses through public events. Thus media relations is currently the primary and major strength of PR agencies in Pakistan.
Government Relations is yet an unexplored territory for the PR agencies in Pakistan. Client’s exhibit lack of confidence to channel their most confidential and hardcore business and regulatory affairs through PR agencies. This shortage of confidence is also linked to the weak or no clout of PR agencies within the bureaucratic setup that could tempt clients to exploit an extra leverage.
Now since governments are primarily formed with a political mandate; having a political clout amongst powerful political parties could certainly lead to influencing the government or the bureaucratic setup. Essentially the interests of the bureaucracy are based on the effectiveness of relationship with the political government.
As Mark J. Penn of Burson-Marsteller remarks about the politicl model; the clients want sure answers from their PR agencies and as we know that any thing close to sure is associated with political influence when it comes to policy and regulatory affairs.
Public Relations Pakistan 