Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said that former special assistant to prime minister on information and broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan was “never eligible for the Information Ministry” and “should have been removed earlier”.
On April 27, Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed Senator Shibli Faraz as the new information minister and Lieutenant General (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa as his special assistant on information and broadcasting.
The latter was appointed in place of Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, who was de-notified as the SAPM with immediate effect.
During an interview, Fawad, who previously served as the information minister until he was replaced by Firdous, said that managing the Information Ministry is not an easy task and the way the former SAPM managed it caused damage to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The minister also said that Firdous was only assigned to the position after lobbying for the role.
Regarding Lieutenant General (r) Bajwa’s appointment, Fawad said that he would be of great help to the newly-appointed information minister as “he understands how the media functions”.
On May 2, Firdous broke her silence over her dismissal from the post and not only denied the allegations of corruption and misuse of power against her, but she also blamed “multiple pseudo-information ministers” for her ouster.
While speaking to a local news outlet, the former SAPM said that during her tenure, there were multiple pseudo-information ministers who may have hindered her progress at a few instances or confused the narrative she wanted to present as a government representative. She added that she was sure that PM Imran would not want a handicapped minister working in his cabinet. The premier would also not like bureaucracy and politicians trading blows or leveraging blames, she further said.
The former SAPM said that during her tenure, she was concerned about stories being leaked to the media instead of going through official channels. She said that she gave the office her best but “there was infighting in the ministry for the past three months as some people appointed to the office were not required”. “PM Imran took a decision about Fawad Chaudhry after eight months and I too was sidelined after a year,” she added.
Firdous said that to her knowledge, the premier was satisfied with her performance but wanted someone else to take charge.
