PTI minister’s clarification over ‘Pakora slur’ fails to pacify K-P doctors

Doctors observe ‘Pakora Day’ in different hospitals of the provincial capital

PESHAWAR: A video clarification by a provincial minister over his controversial remarks about the doctors’ community of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has failed to soothe frayed tempers as doctors observed what they called ‘Pakora day’ on Wednesday.

Doctors, who are already on warpath with the provincial government over a new piece of legislation, shared on social media photos showing them eating Pakoras at their hospitals and clinics.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

The novel protest came two days after Shaukat Yousafzai, the provincial information minister, apparently tried to belittle the doctors, who are boycotting duties at state-run hospitals.

We gave jobs to doctors, now they refuse to work: PTI K-P minister

“Doctors and engineers used to be jobless in the past and would sell Pakoras in Khyber Bazaar. It was the PTI government which gave them jobs,” the minister said at a news conference.

“Look, the credit of recruiting so many doctors also goes to PTI… before [our government] all were jobless. Weren’t they all used to sell Pakoras… don’t you know this? Weren’t they used to sell Pakoras in Khyber Bazar… engineers, doctors! By the grace of Almighty we gave jobs to four to five thousand doctors in one go after coming to power,” he can be heard saying in a video clip that went viral on social media.

Look at the arrogance and derogatory remarks of info minister kp. Look at his gestures and facial expression.
We doctors consider ourselves MAZDOOR, and we are proud of it.@SaleemKhanSafi @UmarCheema1 @_Mansoor_Ali @DocMZK @HamidMirPAK @Uma_Shafiq2 pic.twitter.com/XrIfXHAxb4

— Dr Faisal Khan (@Dr_faisal_khan) October 1, 2019

The minister’s ‘Pakora slur’ triggered outrage among doctors who heaped scorn on Yousafzai on social media. Unnerved by the backlash, the minister later tried to clarify his statement in a video message on social media.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

“I never wanted to disrespect doctors as they are extremely respectable to me. I call them ‘cream of the nation’ and my own son is doctor,” he said in the video statement posted on his Facebook wall.

Yousafzai said he was talking about unemployment of doctors, who used to sell Pakoras in protest and even burned their degrees at Khyber Bazaar. “I was talking in this context, but unfortunately a section of media presented my statement as if I wanted to insult doctors. This isn’t the case at all,” he said.

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Opposition leaders also took strong exception to the minister’s remarks. Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Nighat Orakzai said the statement reflected Yousafzai’s myopic views. “The statement against doctors is a sign of his arrogance, which will soon be over,” she said. The lawmaker also demanded an apology from the minister.

Doctors, K-P govt on warpath

The provincial government and the medical fraternity are at odds after Friday’s violent incident outside the Lady Reading Hospital.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

The doctors were protesting against a new piece of legislation which, they apprehend, will give the authorities the power to dismiss medical practitioners with the stroke of a pen.

In a violent response, police roughed up and rounded up the protesting doctors and paramedics.

In a sign of deepening trouble, the medical community announced it will extend its strike across the province’s state-run hospitals while authorities in Peshawar shifted 15 doctors and paramedics it had arrested on Friday to Mardan Central Jail for one month.