Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Firdous Ashiq Awan slapped Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Abdul Qadir Mandokhel in the face after a heated discussion between the two during a live TV show.
The footage of the incident went viral on social media. Firdous along with Mandokhel and PML-N’s Azma Bukhari appeared on Express News talk show hosted by Javed Chaudhry. However, during the show, both politicians entered a heated debate over corruption, excessive load-shedding, and the Ghotki train accident.
It all started with Mandokhel bringing up Firdous Ashiq Awan’s insensitive remarks about the train accident. She had allegedly said that it was the first accident of 2021 by the “grace of God”. “Your statement was akin to pouring salt on someone’s wounds,” he said.
Video: Firdous scolds Sialkot AC over substandard items in Ramzan Bazar’
Firdous retorted that her statement was taken out of context and went on to bash the Sindh CM, Murad Ali Shah, as the accident happened in Sindh.
Things didn’t stop there. Mandokhel upped the ante and accused Firdous of corruption. “Look who is talking, the one who is bathed in corruption from head to toe.” she retorted. “What about you? You were a minister, didn’t you do corruption with buses?” Mandokhail snarled.
At this, Firdous said she would file a defamation suit against the PPP lawmaker for “spewing nonsense”, slapping the desk. But it seems, desk wasn’t the only thing slapped by the PTI leader, as a video clip that started making rounds after the talk show showed that Firdous had attacked Mandokhel and slapped him in the face.
Mandokhel, however, tried to grab her arms to defend himself, while people present on the set intervened quickly to deescalate the situation.
In response to the backlash, Firdous took to Twitter to defend her actions. “The picture being painted about the argument with Mandokhail during Javed Chaudhry’s TV show highlights only one side of the story.”
