New Delhi: Fayazul Hassan Chohan was reappointed Pakistan’s information minister Monday, a month after he was sacked for making anti-Hindu comments.
“Chief Minister is pleased to assign the portfolio of ‘Information Department’ to Mr Fayaz-Ul-Hasan Chohan, MPA, PP-17, Rawalpindi, Provincial Minister, Punjab in addition to the portfolio of ‘Colonies Department’,” the official letter dated 2 December said.
Chohan had resigned from the post in March 2019 after his remarks referring to Hindus as “cow urine-drinking people” kicked up a controversy. A video of him, in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, shows him saying, “We are Muslims and we have a flag, the flag of Maula Ali’s bravery, the flag of Hazrat Umar’s valour… Don’t operate under the delusion that you’re seven times better than us. What we have, you can’t have, you idol-worshippers.”
He came under heavy criticism for his insensitive remarks and #SackFayazChohan soon began trending on Twitter. Within 24 hours, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) forced Chohan to resign.
The PTI party had then said it did not believe in “bashing someone’s faith”.
“Tolerance is the first & foremost pillar on which #Pakistan was built,” the Imran Khan-led party had tweeted.
PTI Punjab government has removed Fayyaz Chohan from the post of Punjab Information Minister following derogatory remarks about the Hindu community. Bashing someone’s faith should not b a part of any narrative.Tolerance is the first & foremost pillar on which #Pakistan was built. pic.twitter.com/uKJiReWc26
— PTI (@PTIofficial) March 5, 2019
Chohan later apologised and said his comments were not directed at Pakistan’s Hindu community.
Not the first insult
Chohan isn’t new to controversy. In August 2018, he came under fire after a video of him making misogynistic remarks about women actors in Pakistan’s film industry surfaced online.
“I would have transformed Nargis to Haji Nargis,” he said, adding that “actor Megha would have fasted for 300, instead of 30 days in a year, under his supervision,” Daily Pakistan reported.
In another video, he can be heard hurling abuses at a TV host after the channel aired old clips of him. Chohan also allegedly used the word ‘Kashmiri’ to imply an insult.
Also read: Sacked Pakistani minister Fayyaz Chohan has a history of being anti-Hindu, racist & sexist