Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry was interviewed on the BBC’s Hard Talk programme, and the kindest thing that can be said about him was that he might have done better had he prepared more. The basic question he faced, about military support for the government, Mr Chaudhry tried to fob off by saying that Imran Khan had been elected by the majority of Pakistanis. This is technically incorrect, for while the PTI did not receive a majority of the vote in 2018, it failed to achieve a simple majority of seats and needed the support of smaller parties and independents to form governments at the centre and in Punjab. How the government has ceded space, and to whom, is increasingly open.
Another area where Mr Chaudhry’s answer was not entirely accurate was on his ministerial responsibility, press freedom. When asked about concerns about press freedom, he merely parroted his leader Imran Khan’s response, that the press is not freer anywhere in the world. That is hardly accurate; the perception has developed that certain institutions are reported on at the peril of the reporter, with the recent attack on an Islamabad-based reporter is the latest example of the disturbing trend of things happening without any legal action. This descent from misuse of the law to outright thuggery is a development on Mr Chaudhry’s watch.
Mr Chaudhry also showed a similar attitude to the issue of missing persons. His fulsome praise of one of the parties to the issue does not raise hopes for a fair adjudication of the issue, or of impartial executive action. However, Mr Chaudhry managed to come across as unprepared, which was not exactly the best approach to such an opportunity of defending the government, which is Mr Chaudhry’s task. Not just he and his leader, but the whole party, should be asking itself why these issues keep recurring. They are not the result of some awesome conspiracy against the government, but reflect what is happening. The government should realise that if any institution bursts out of its constitutionally set boundaries, it will be inevitably noticed. While it might be possible to silence voices at home, those abroad are not amenable to such control.
