Responding to criticism of being aloof and indifferent to the crisis of dengue fever in the province after photos of his enjoying a wedding in Islamabad surfaced, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health minister Shahram Tarakkai told reporters that this was all “for optics.”
“By seeming unfazed, I convinced the enemy that though they might think they are winning in their efforts to infect a large number of Peshawar’s residents, they will not break our resolve,” he said, while sipping a mint margarita from Islamabad’s Serena hotel.
“They will not affect our way of life,” he screamed, after sucking on the straw furiously to ensure he had the margarita down to its last drop.
“This is a stark contrast from amateurs like that team of doctors from Punjab, which is working round-the-clock at Lady Reading Hospital and Khyber Teaching Hospital to try to treat the victims,” he continued.
“The message this sends to the mosquitos is that we have let this issue frazzle us. Will I let that happen? No,” said the minister as he helped himself to his third slice of Hawaiian Pizza.
“Oombhd….the thing here is that…uumbh,” he said, while eating the pizza. “Excoozh me…oom…so good….”