PTI's Zartaj Gul gives fresh meme fodder to social media by messing up Gen Zia-ul-Haq's birthday

ISLAMABAD: Climate Change Minister Zartaj Gul Wazir has kept up with her signature move of making confusing, and often hilarious, comments and providing social media users fresh meme fodder by saying former president Gen Zia-ul-Haq was born on August 17 — when, in fact, the former military dictator was assassinated on this date.

Speaking during a current affairs talk show on a private TV channel on Monday, Zartaj Gul Wazir — in what ultimately became a failed jibe at the PML-N — told lawmaker Mian Javed Latif she wanted to congratulate him on the birth anniversary of his party’s "founder", Gen Zia-ul-Haq.

"I want to congratulate Mian Javed Latif for it's probably the birthday of Gen Zia-ul-Haq — who created this party [the PML-N] — as far as I remember," the PTI minister said.

The anchor and other participants in the show were left dumbfounded on the state minister’s lack of knowledge about the political history of Pakistan.

Anchorperson Nadeem Malik then corrected her, saying "today is August 17 when Gen Zia and many others were killed in a plane crash in 1988".

Despite being corrected, Zartaj tried to save the crumbling pieces of her sarcastic comment, saying: "Okay, whatever, even if it was an accident, they should celebrate it because he created the party. They should commemorate the anniversary of his martyrdom."

Fellow talk show guests — Sindh government spokesperson Senator Murtaza Wahab and Latif, the PML-N leader — were speechless, with the former putting his head in his hands and the latter showing an expression of contempt.