Last night, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Dr. Shahbaz Gill got into an intense argument with one of Pakistan’s leading journalists Muhammad Malick.
During the popular show “Breaking Point with Malick“, the host and Dr. Shahbaz Gill traded barbs while making personal attacks on each other.
The argument turned sour when the talk turned to inflation and PTI’s misgovernance. Dr. Shahbaz Gill then hit back at the accusations of misgovernance by quoting reports of the international community praising Pakistan. He shared reports from World Bank and Forbes praising Pakistan for economic revival. He also quoted reports from World Health Organization (WHO) appreciating Pakistan for its handling of Covid-19.
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This was not enough for the host of the show who said that the government misrepresents facts. He highlighted that Pakistan’s gas crisis and high unemployment rates show a different picture. The top journalist also talked about inflation in Pakistan and the recent urea crisis.
In response, Shahbaz Gill shared data showing positive economic developments within Pakistan. However, Muhammad Malick kept countering Shahbaz Gill, saying Pakistan’s food inflation has reached new heights. At this point, the argument got intense with personal attacks leveled at each other.
Nonsense: Shahbaz Gill
Shahbaz Gill hit back at Malick saying that he is a journalist, not an economist. To which Malick questioned whether Shahbaz Gill is an economist or not.
In response, Shahbaz Gill said he has done a PhD in Business from the University of Malaya. However, Malick took a dig at the university’s credibility claiming that it has a controversial status since there were talks that it is not a verified university.
The personal attack did not sit well with Shahbaz Gill who said that Malick should leave journalism. Shahbaz Gill defended the university by saying that Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad studied there.
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“That university is like Quaid-e-Azam University,” Dr. Shahbaz Gill said, highlighting its national importance in Malaysia. “You are giving a nonsense statement!”
“If you’re talking about nonsense statements, then I think you are acting as a nonsense person,” Malick hit back.
محمد مالک ملک کے وزیراعظم کا گریبان پکڑنے کی بات کریں تو وہ ٹھیک۔ملائشیا کی No.1 یونیورسٹی جہاں سے وہاں کے 4 وزیراعظم صاحبان نے ڈگریاں لیں، اس کو مشکوک کہیں وہ ٹھیک۔مریم کے کتا کی طرح بھونکنے والی بات پر سائیلنٹ موڈ میں رہیں وہ ٹھیک۔
اور میں nonsense کا لفظ کہہ دوں تو قیامت💣 pic.twitter.com/Kjj0OJePnH
— Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (@SHABAZGIL) January 20, 2022
The interview took social media by storm with netizens criticizing the journalist for his comments on the university. Netizens were of the view that the host should not have made the personal attack on Dr. Shahbaz Gill. On the other hand, users also condemned Dr. Shahbaz Gill for losing his temper.
A big thanks to all friends who condemned rowdiness of special assistant but it’s not an issue that warrants such intense discussion.Simply not worth your time or mine so let’s move on to more serious national national issues that merit attention. Ive already put it behind me😀
— Mohammad Malick (@MalickViews) January 20, 2022
Later, Mohammad Malick tweeted that he misheard the university’s name.
“Confusion arose when I misheard uni name and mistook it for another but that was a minor issue, the ugliness happened because of extreme aggressiveness of the gentleman and rowdy language. Like I said, every conflicting opinion can be made without a conflict,” Malick tweeted.
Wasim, confusion arose when I misheard uni name and mistook it for another but that was a minor issue, the ugliness happened because of extreme aggressiveness of the gentleman and rowdy language. Like I said, every conflicting opinion can be made without a conflict.
— Mohammad Malick (@MalickViews) January 21, 2022