Firdous: I did not use the right words

Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan has admitted that the words she used to tell off Assistant Commissioner Sonia Sadaf in Sialkot over price gouging in a Ramazan subsidy bazaar were not right. If the spirit of the holy month is of self-reflection and forgiveness, then nothing exemplified it more perhaps than Firdous Apa’s live apology on national television Monday afternoon.

Social media exploded on Sunday when a video of Firdous Ashiq Awan shouting at AC Sadaf was circulated. People quickly divided into two camps: those pro-civil service and those against.

“What happened to you?” asked a TV’s anchor in the pre-iftar transmission on Monday.

“See along with all this you should keep in mind, that I am a representative of the people,” Firdous replied. “Not a product of the drawing room. I don’t sit in a drawing room and do politics.”