I am writing in response to a rather ugly twitter conversation with Mr. Farooq Tirmizi, Business reporter at Express Tribune (Pakistan).

He wrote Analysis: The Eid gift to the upper-middle class hurts the poor on October 27, 2012. This analysis seems to be factually incorrect and politically motivated. However upon being challenged to a debate, he insisted that I prove my academic credentials. Apart from this he also tweeted, If you do not have a PhD in economics, then you are not an economist and your claim of being one is a lie, subsequently reinforcing his message by defaming me, So you are admitting that you lied when you said you are an economist. You are obviously not. A simple question where does Mr. Farooq Tirmizi get his definition of economist? There are differing views on the definition, but an economist doesnt require a PhD, some may also believe In contrast to regulated professions such as engineering, law or medicine, there is not a legallyrequired educational requirement or license for economists (Wikipedia, Article Economist), but I accept this can be contested. Mr. Farooq continuously insisted that my credentials and academic qualifications were inaccurate, and than tweeted that Considering your past few tweets, you sound to me like a two-bit hack who has mot actually studied economics before Actually you do. That is the definition of an economist. So you lied and now you are being brazen about your ignorance. My argument against Mr. Farooqs analysis is simple; the beneficiaries of a cut in the price of CNG (compressed natural gas, an alternate vehicle fuel) are not necessarily the Upper Middle Class as quoted in the Title and the content of his piece. What Mr. Farooqs article lacked in content, he made up for in venom against me in his tweets. Instead of citing the number of passenger transport vehicles in Pakistan, he started posing questions to me, whereas he made the initial claim that majority consumers of CNG are Upper Middle Class citizens of Pakistan. How can someone assume that the majority users of CNG are Upper Middle Class citizens, when they dont have statistics relating to Public Transport? He made claims that a few rickshaws and buses are on CNG, but only has counter-questions for me to substantiate his claims. Mr. Farooq is also unaware that a world exists outside of Karachi, however claims he is well traveled on Public transport throughout Pakistan. Can he provide the statistics of Rickshaws, Taxis, and BusesLong Route / Intra city fitted with CNG engines outside of Karachi/all of Pakistan. This is not his analysis but merely assumption, that is not supported by facts.