Local journalists on Tuesday recorded strong protest and demanded an apology from Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan over his crass remarks issued in a memorial reference for late Qazi Hussain Ahmed.
A journalist requested the minister to respond to the Jamaat-e-Islami chief’s statement alleging that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) promise of turning the country into Madina is baseless as the government did not even take a single step for it.
Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, rather than responding to the question, lambasted at the journalist, saying that the journalist should feel ashamed for asking such question.
“Media should not be an unguided missile. They should know what to ask and where to ask,” said the minister. “It should not ask questions which can raise conflict.”
It appears that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader has a penchant for issuing high-handed remarks, which eventually creates controversy for the party and the government.
His statements prompted a protest from journalists, who said that the media has the right to ask questions and the minister could choose not to answer.
They demanded that Hassan Chohan retract his statement and surrounded him when he started to leave. The journalists pointed out that Chohan had made political statements himself when he alluded to “looters” and “thieves” in his media talk.
The provincial minister left without any further statement. This is not the first time a minister from the ruling PTI has acted brashly with journalists. Last week, Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda lost his cool when a senior journalist asked him about the government’s decision to award the Rs 300 billion Mohmand Dam project on a “single” financial bid of a consortium that includes Descon, a company owned by the prime minister’s adviser on commerce.
“Your party had strongly criticised the liquefied natural gas deal because it was done on a single-bid basis and now your government has awarded the contract of Mohmand Dam on a single-bid basis. How can you say it is legitimate?” the journalist had questioned.
Faisal Vawda did not take the query kindly, saying, “I could have expected such a question from you only. I am not responsible for something that happened before my birth. Because you are my elder I am answering this question. If this was someone else, I would not have answered and also set aside the mic.”
Published in Daily Times, January 9th 2019.
