Incumbent Federal Minister for Science & Technology and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry has removed his successor Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan from the WhatsApp group of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s cabinet after Awan, who had been handed the reins of the Information Ministry last year, was removed as the special assistant to the PM on information and broadcasting.
Ever since Fawad was replaced by non-elected Awan in 2019, reports had hinted at a possible rift among the ranks of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The now science & tech minister had also discussed with a media outlet the cold war that was going on within the ruling party, saying that “non-elected people had the power to change portfolios of ministers” and “important decisions were made without many team members knowing about them”.
Among several other reported spats between Fawad and Awan, with the ex-SAPM even complaining of some lawmakers’ behaviour to PM Imran, Fawad’s statements of a battle going on between elected and non-elected members was followed by Awan “admiring Fawad’s ‘struggle to always stay in headlines“.
Amid rumours that the two weren’t best of friends ever since Fawad’s removal and Awan’s subsequent appointment, the federal minister had earlier this year even called out PM Imran’s former aide on “illiterate” remarks regarding Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar.
With Awan being replaced by former military bigwig Lt Gen (r) Asim Bajwa on Monday and PTI Senator Shibli Faraz being handed the reins of the Information Ministry, senior journalist and analyst Arshad Sharif asked if Fawad, being an admin of the WhatsApp group of PM Imran’s cabinet, had added Faraz and removed his successor, cracking the minister up.
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“That is how it is. If they go, they have to be removed,” a smiling Fawad told the journalist, adding that he was shocked to know that Sharif knew about the group, its admins and whatever happened in it.
