Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill lost his cool when the credibility of his educational background was put into question during HUM News programme, ‘Breaking Point with Malick’.
Anchorperson Mohammad Malick and Gill traded barbs while making personal attacks on each other.
Malick and Gill’s argument revolved around the increasing inflation in Pakistan.
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.
“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. “You are being rude, look at your language, try saying ‘nonsense’ to your seniors in the party,” said Malick.
Malick later said, “I hope the prime minister will teach his special assistants how to talk. We are hosts and on television, we cannot speak certain things due to professional obligations. This is not a Jalsa but a political talk show. I hope the ministers and special assistants of the government should have the patience and decency to answer questions in a decent manner.”
We can give a lot of answers but we will not respond to insults,” said Malick.
Gill took to Twitter and said, “If someone insults my school by calling it suspicious, then a harsh answer will be given back.”
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,” said Malick.
“Like I said, every conflicting opinion can be made without a conflict,” Malick tweeted.
