Heated debate erupts between Gharida Farooqi, Meher Bano Qureshi on TV show

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Meher Bano Qureshi and journalist Gharida Farooqi got into a heated debate on Wednesday when the latter said that legislators are accountable to the media and the public.

Speaking on a private news channel on Wednesday, the journalist mocked PTI's narrative, remarking that whenever the party leadership met with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir, they beamed with joy.  “We used to criticise Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz over their U-turn from ‘Vote Ko Izzat Do’ slogan,” she said.

Gharida Farooqi further claimed that PTI came into power in 2018 with public tax money and if the party wished to form the government again, it would be accountable to the public as well as to the media.

In reply, the daughter of imprisoned former Foreign Minister and senior PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Meher Bano Qureshi, alleged, “You [Farooqi] as a journalist are accountable to people, where you spread or mis spread information to {...} If you want to talk about accountability, then all the individuals who sit in parliament with false oaths, knowing that they were not actually elected, are also accountable.”

Qureshi further said, “This is also accountability that you [Farooqi] should have to speak the truth by telling where the interference happened and who was involved in the interference.”

The journalist countered by asserting that she would not speak the truth of someone's choice, adding, “The patriarchal thinking that politicians are not accountable to media and public must be left behind.”

The journalist then moved on to ask why the salaries of Members of the National Assembly (MNA) were increased, alluding to the bill passed yesterday from the National Assembly, which increased Members of Parliament’s monthly salaries from PKR 180,000 to 519,000.

Farooqi claimed that the rationale for increasing the wages of MNAs and senators to meet their household expenses is completely illogical. “I do not pay taxes to cover your [lawmakers] household expenses, but pay for state welfare and my own convenience.”

PML-N leader Rana Ahsan Afzal, who was also present in the talk show, chimed in, saying that the legislators get compensation in exchange for serving their role in parliamentary democracy.

“If a laborer who gets PKR35,000-40,000 salary in this country can meet his household expenses, then our parliamentarian can definitely manage on a lac or two lacs,” asserted Farooqi.

“Why then did the judges and journalists receive high salaries?” asked Afzal while dubbing debate “illogical”.