A video has gone viral on social media in which Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, former special assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, is seen slapping Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) Member Parliament Qadir Khan Mandokhel for highlighting unprecedented power crisis in the country.

The PPP Member Parliament has also pointed towards a recent train accident in Pakistan which claimed the lives of nearly 70 passengers.

During the live show, Qadir Khan criticized Imran Khan-led government for its failure to improve the power situation in Pakistan. He also availed the opportunity to shift the blame on the government for a train accident. Infuriated over criticism of government headed by Imran Khan, Awan caught hold of opposition leader and slapped him during the live show.

Imran Khan's ex-special assistant slapping opposition MP during a live TV show
Imran Khan's ex-special assistant slapping opposition MP during a live TV showsocial media

Who is Firdous Awan?

Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, the former Special Assistant to the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, is currently the advisor to the Chief Minister of Punjab province. When she was a special assistant to Imran Khan, she was very active on media. Earlier she had misbehaved with a female assistant commissioner during shopping on the occasion of Eid this year.

Imran Khan

Awan loses her temper during the discussion

According to Pakistani media, the incident occurred when the two appeared on Express News talk show, Kal Tak, hosted by senior journalist Javed Chaudhry. What started as a discussion about the government's performance and excessive load-shedding in parts of the country, turned into a shouting match between the two over the recent train collision in Sindh's Ghotki district which claimed the lives of more than 60 people.

Things started to get heated when the PPP leader mentioned Awan's comments about the train tragedy, in a press conference shortly after, she had allegedly said that "by the Grace of God" this was the first train accident during the PTI's rule.

Netizens react against Awan's action

As soon as the video of the incident goes viral on social media, #FirdousAshiqAwan started trending on Twitter. Many netizens were quick to point out that this was the second time the government official had been caught "misbehaving" on camera, pointing to an earlier incident with the Sialkot assistant commissioner.