Faisal Sabzwari, Madeha Naqvi discuss politics, marriage with Ahsan Khan

The couple shed light on their early relationship and the state of education in Pakistan

In a recent appearance on Time Out with Ahsan Khan, anchor and newscaster Madeha Naqvi and her politician husband Faisal Sabzwari spoke about politics and the state of the country’s education system, while revealing details about their married life along the way. 

Reflecting on the difficulties of being a politician, Sabzwari shared the need for careful deliberation before saying anything in front of the camera. He said, “You have to be careful what you say in front of the camera. You also have less time to think about what it is you should say. You can say one wrong word, and it will be immortalised on social media. So, it’s a difficult job.”

Elaborating on the same, morning show host Naqvi explained that the experience of hosting a talk show is not as enjoyable if you aren’t having a hard time. “If you aren’t fumbling, then you aren’t having fun. It’s been a long time since that has happened, and even when I do fumble, I speak so fast that people usually aren’t able to pick up on it,” she shared. 

On her fast-paced way of speaking, Naqvi added, “I’ve calmed myself down to a great extent. I watched my show on repeat once, and I felt so bad for my audience that I cried. I wondered how people understood me at all.”

Addressing the question of whether his political views are affected by those held by his wife, Sabzwari revealed, “I don’t think so. Sometimes, if the news is airing, then we’ll talk about it. Sometimes I have to ask her to tone it down and not be so emotional. She isn’t a politician but she has very strong views, and incidentally, they are in line with mine on major issues.” 

Reflecting on how she has to be more careful about what she says post-marriage, Naqvi added, “I have always wanted to start a show where I call political parties out on things that they have said. However, since I couldn’t say such things on air, I’d vent it all out on Twitter. But after marriage, Faisal keeps an eye on my tweets and asks me to delete this and that, so I just stopped tweeting. It’s because these tweets aren’t just by Madeha Naqvi, they are coming from a politician’s wife so people may start associating them with the politician.”

When asked by the host about the first time they met, the news anchor recounted, “As a news anchor, when I would cover his press conferences, I would think of him as a very well-spoken and respectful man, since he doesn’t resort to foul language like other politicians. When he came to my show, I would stay very reserved because people would tell me that the individuals who made an appearance on the show were there because of me. I wouldn’t smile or talk a lot. However, for some very strange reason, I’d call the other politicians like Mustafa Kamal ‘bhai’, but not him.” 

Sabzwari, when questioned about the state of the country, lamented the deplorable condition of education in Pakistan. “We’re going towards a social implosion. The government, regardless of who they are, serve as a punching bag. However, overall the deterioration of society that we are witnessing, that is mind-boggling,” he shared. 

“What kind of education have we provided our people? What kind of upbringing? We often talk about how social media in our country, how a Nobel Prize winner and an uneducated individual have the same number of characters to speak through on Twitter. In our society, unfortunately, social media is very toxic. That’s the case in the rest of the world also, but here we have quite a few educated fools. We didn’t even try to produce open-minded people. I know PhD doctors who don’t know how to think for themselves. What can be more worrisome than that?” asserted the politician. 

On how the issue can be rectified, Sabzwari added further, “We need to start investing in the social sector and produce educated people who know how to think. I have a friend who is a chartered accountant. His son wanted to study economics, so the university that he went to, that university alone has three dozen Nobel Prize winners in economics. If this American university, with an endowment greater than Pakistan’s total foreign reserves, is producing so many intellectuals, then it means that they are giving education priority.”  

“Even God has said that there are signs for those who are willing to think. Our religion focuses on education, but what kind of education? Not textbook education that keeps changing depending on whose government is in charge. No one focuses on producing thinking individuals, because when you think, you ask questions,” he concluded. 

Stressing the importance of speaking up against established norms that harm society, Naqvi added, while referencing host Ahsan Khan’s play Udari, which was centred on the issue of child sexual abuse. She said, “You did a drama called Udari, and it was one of the best plays. The drama had an important message that went beyond the screen. At the time, I was doing a morning show for a channel, there were a few cases involving child abuse and Ahsan came on the show to talk about it free of charge. He received so much backlash for that because there are certain norms that people don’t want you to question.”