Bad behaviour

Some of the PTI's young and inexperienced stalwarts refuse to understand that in public speaking disagreement is best expressed through reasoned explanations rather than aggressive language and tone, which can only hurt whatever they are trying to achieve. At a news conference where he was supposed to address growing concerns about a controversial dam construction bid won by a joint venture of Descon Company owned by a prime minister's advisor in the past, Faisal Vawda, the Minister for Water Resources, ended up doing just the opposite of what he had come to do. He was asked a fair question regarding a call for him for appearance before the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In an apparent attempt to evade the question, he made several unwarranted assertions. He would not go to the committee on a one-day notice, he said, adding, "I'm not a servant of anyone's father"; and that he was not answerable to anyone except the Prime Minister and Supreme Court. He then went on to rail against 'anyone' - PAC chairman Shahbaz Sharif - saying it was ludicrous for a person coming from jail to ask him to appear before the committee.
The minister should have known better than that. First of all, the PAC has the prerogative to summon cabinet ministers or any other person relevant to a matter falling under its purview. Second of all, whether he likes it or not, Sharif heads that committee. As long as he holds that position, he is within his rights to summon people associated with accountability issues. Vawda would have been wise to justify his position, as he later did, by explaining that as per the PAC procedural rules a 15-day notice is needed for appearance before it, hence, he would not go on a single-day notice. Still, he did not stop fuming and fretting. When asked a pertinent question by another journalist, he gave an equally, if not more, rude answer. Insinuating that the questioner wanted to create an unnecessary controversy he averred, "I'm only answering this question because you're my elder. Had someone else been in your place I would have stayed quiet, even turned the mic aside." This surely is no way for a politician to field questions he/she finds difficult to answer. No wonder the presser ended in a fiasco as reporters, surprised and offended in equal measure, over his attitude staged a walkout even as he offered apologies.
Hopefully, the minister and his colleagues have learned a sobering lesson from this episode. They must not forget that in a functioning democracy, media has an adversarial relationship with the government. It serves as society's watchdog. Journalists have a duty to ask government leaders questions pertaining to their actions, policies and plans, which must be answered in a civilised manner.