Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has told his cabinet members to maintain unity within the party, a day after Federal Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry said in an interview that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was failing to bring promised change due to a lack of political leadership amid rifts among leaders such as Jahangir Khan Tareen, Planning Minister Asad Umar and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Addressing a presser after a meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by PM Imran, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said that Fawad’s interview with the Voice of America came under discussion during the cabinet meeting.
“Fawad Chaudhry’s interview was discussed in the cabinet [meeting] and the prime minister said we should maintain unity within the party,” Faraz said.
In the interview, Fawad had said there were rifts among Tareen, Umar and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, which hurt the party and forced the PTI’s “political class” to part ways.
“As soon as the PTI government was formed, quarrels among Qureshi, Umar and Tareen began. Tareen used his influence to get Umar removed from the cabinet and later Umar got Tareen out,” Fawad had said.
During the cabinet meeting, the information minister said that the premier has instructed the ministers and party leaders not to talk about things that “affect” the party or the government.
Faraz also spoke about a recent interview of Climate Change Minister Zartaj Gul in which she said that Covid-19 means that the virus has 19 points that can be applied to any country based on its respective immunity levels.
Her remarks were widely shared on social media and she was criticised for not knowing that Covid-19 is actually an acronym for the coronavirus.
“It was a slip of the tongue and people make mistakes,” the information minister said, referring to Gul’s remarks. “It should not have happened and I completely agree with you.”
The information minister said that Gul is an “outstanding” minister “who is doing great work”.
“We should ignore the mistakes because people make mistakes,” Faraz added.
