Updated 30 Mar, 2021 05:02pm

Allowing a child to drive isn't your personal business, Ali Amin Gandapur

Ali Amin Gandapur, federal minister for Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, you owe Pakistan an apology.

If you don't know why, watch this video posted by journalist Mansoor Ali Khan.

And read these replies by the respectable minister.

Gandapur is bobbing his head to the beat of 'Shenai' by DJ Kantik while his son drives the vehicle and two other grown men sit in the backseat. Putting aside the strange music choice, the son in question doesn't look a day over 10, let alone 18 years old. But then the law doesn't apply to our ministers, especially when they're on their own land, apparently.

It seems that the minister doesn't know that the law applies to you wherever you are, be it your own home, your own office or out in public. Committing a crime on your own land doesn't make it any less than a crime.

In essence, what Gandapur wants is for us to shut up and leave him and his child to their driving lessons. But Mr Gandapur, you seem to be forgetting that you need to be 18 years old to get a driving licence permit in this country. That means you shouldn't be behind the wheel before you turn 18. Of course there is the inevitable argument that everyone tries their hand at driving before turning 18, but we can assure you that no one let us before the wheel when we were 10 years old. And for good reason.

We shouldn't have to spell it out for you, but we will anyway — that is a CHILD driving, not a teenager about to turn 18 in a few months. What possible justification can you have for allowing a child to drive when three apparently able-bodied adults are there to drive instead?

Should we instead “upgrade our knowledge” as the minister so arrogantly put it and "mind our own businesses" rather than discussing "non-issues and personal issues on which we have have no knowledge"? It is after all, his land, his vehicle and his son. But perhaps we aren't the ones who need to grow up.

Ali Amin Gandapur, you us all an apology. You are a public servant, elected by the people of Dera Ismail Khan to represent them. You have absolved yourself of all accountability here but please remember, Mr Minister, you are accountable to the people of Pakistan.

What you do in your own home is your own business until you violate the law, the same law you have sworn to uphold as a federal minister and member of the National Assembly of Pakistan.

No one is above the law, be it you, your son or the rest of your family. You are a public servant, one who is answerable to the people of Pakistan, so when a citizen of Pakistan questions you about you breaking the law, you do not get to tell them to mind their own business. This is not your personal or private matter, as you so mistakenly believe. This is a public servant breaking the law and endangering the lives of four people.

If your son had lost control of the vehicle, which could definitely have happened given that A) he's a child and B) he wasn't driving slowly, would you have said the same thing to the person he hit? Would that person too be told to mind their own business?

We aren't the only ones who are appalled by the minister.

Most people were astounded by the privilege and arrogance in his tweets.

Others wanted his justifications to stop.

Some were questioning his parenting skills.

Of course, we're all just "jealous" of him.

Or maybe we're questioning what a public servant is doing breaking the law?

We should probably stay in our lanes and stop questioning the honourable minister.

If he hadn't endangered at least four lives, we would be laughing too.

It might not even be his land!

To conclude: Ali Amin Gandapur, federal minister for Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, owes Pakistan an apology.

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