Fawad Chaudhry and Zartaj Gul are being dragged since Zartaj Gul is trying to take credit for the Climate Change March.
September 20th, 2019 marked the global climate strike where cities around the world demonstrated to their governments that they wanted a climate emergency declared. Marches were organized in over 40 Pakistani cities from Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad to Gwadar, Gilgit, Mardan and beyond.
All of the marches had been organized by the civil society and had no help from any politician or official. And once the marches were over and proved to be immensely successful because of the big turnouts all over the country, Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul suddenly sprung into action… on Twitter.
In a tweet which seems to be now deleted, she said: “Held an engaged public awareness event in Islamabad to trigger a more committed behavior from civil society, and to affirm focus on sustainability initiatives.”
Unacceptable #zartajgulwazir trying to take credit for OUR CITIZEN MOVEMENT @ClimateActionPk #ClimateStrike #ClimateAction #ClimateActionNow @sami_randhawa @Omerakif93 @rafay_alam @MukhtarHoonMein @rinasaeed @SamarHasantwtr @zofeen28 pic.twitter.com/4bsSEx68aJ
— Anam Zeb (@anamzeb) September 20, 2019
Other than that, she apparently even had the audacity to try to hijack the event itself and make it seem like she was the one in charge while she was at the march.
Here's evidence of #ZartajGul during the March refusing to give me back the microphone and trying to hijack OUR event @ClimateActionPk @rinasaeed @rafay_alam @saratamman @imran2u @SamarHasantwtr @AnamRathor https://t.co/CmaigiLRlo
— Anam Zeb (@anamzeb) September 20, 2019
But of course, those who actually organized the event pointed out that she played NO part in the organization of the march and only came for photo ops and trying to seem relevant.
This lady didn't hold anything. The only things she done is get her sister a job at NACTA. This piece of trash deserves to go home. https://t.co/L2CMPmGWVl
— Ahmad Rafay Alam (@rafay_alam) September 20, 2019
Shameful lie by Minister Zartaj Gul. This was a citizen led movement, where public paid for everything out of their pockets. Is this the Government's first lie to us?? #CimateActionNowPk pic.twitter.com/sRCeOctsE1
— Xari Jalil (@xarijalil) September 20, 2019
Others clarified that Zartaj Gul was merely invited because she was the Minister for Climate Change – people wanted her to hear their charter of demands so that she could take action!
We would like to strongly clarify that the climate marches in Pakistan were organized by @ClimateActionPk & we invited Zartaj Gul & @aminattock to receive our charter of demands. These marches were civil society efforts. Neither organized nor funded by the government. Support us! https://t.co/mBUr0J2Bnp
— Sara Hayat (@saratamman) September 20, 2019
I mean, she’s the Minister for Climate Change, she has ALL the power to take action. The march was a demonstration against the government and in particular her ministry for being inept with dealing with the climate crisis.
Pakistan's minister for climate change Zartaj Gul, protests against her own govt, asks for change in the climate policy that she's incharge of. Alright then. pic.twitter.com/lTwHavznnw
— Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) September 20, 2019
But of course, instead of Zartaj Gul apologizing for taking credit, the matter was made worse when Fawad Chaudhry saw his fellow Minister in distress and decided to defend her. Of course, she endorsed what he said by retweeting him.
Ahmad Your only contribution in life is you was adviser to ADB on BRT project, you have audacity to criticise everyone left right and centre only because you are a cycle (lover) ….. ? #Idiot https://t.co/Ohfg725aQ8
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) September 20, 2019
His tweet did not help at all and ended up having them both ridiculed on Twitter for being incredibly childish.
One minister (Zartaj Gul) falsely claimed she was leading the march. Another minister (Fawad Chaudhry) insults one of main organizers of the march. Neither have addressed detailed demands of protestors.
Govt's lack of seriousness is reason why ppl's led climate movement needed. https://t.co/FHkVbO9HJ3
— Ammar Ali Jan (@ammaralijan) September 20, 2019
Ridiculous; would expect you to champion socially conscious movements and promote sustainability given your role as Minister for Science.
— Qasim Ahsan (@smqasimahsan) September 20, 2019
Shameful. Instead of telling your colleague not to lie, you are attacking someone who criticised her for lying, then deleted her tweet w/o apologising.
Pakistan is the 7th most vulnerable to Climate Change, and this is the Science Minister’s response.. khuda khair kere Mulk ki. pic.twitter.com/af26L2b2Zj
— Dawar Butt (@thelahorewala) September 20, 2019
And Fawad’s insult to one of the organizers of the actual march didn’t even make sense
Here goes our esteemed minister hurling insults like an angry school kid online. By the way, when did ‘cycle lover’ become something bad? Also why is ‘lover’ in parentheses? Are you actually calling Rafay a cycle? This is so confusing!
— Nida Kirmani (@nidkirm) September 20, 2019
Zartaj Gul did not even acknowledge that she had wrongly tried to take credit. She merely deleted her tweet and went about her day.
Her Twitter timeline is now filled with quoted tweets of her appreciating the march and has no acknowledgment towards the actual fact that whether or not she will ACCEPT the charter of demands people made with the marches.
Very impressive,to walk with the climate Marchers,an honor to walk with you for climate action. https://t.co/d2PbNeC7aV
— Zartaj Gul Wazir (@zartajgulwazir) September 20, 2019
Let’s see if the government takes any action because of these marches because clearly the Minister of Climate Change has no idea that this march was addressed towards her in particular.
What do you think of Zartaj Gul trying to take credit for the march and not taking any action for what was demanded through them? Let us know in the comments below.
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