Now Reading: US Embassy Issues Apology after Retweeting Post Targeting PM Khan
On Wednesday, the United States embassy located in Islamabad apologized for retweeting a post against Prime Minister Imran Khan after it sparked outrage on social media. The “unauthorized” retweet was originally a post by member of opposition and PML-N Leader – Ahsan Iqbal – about the premier, taunting him.
This controversy started when on Tuesday, Ahsan Iqbal shared a screenshot of an article by The Washington Post on the social networking site. The article was titled, “Trump’s defeat is a blow for the world’s demagogues and dictators”. Iqbal captioned the pic, “We have one in Pakistan too. He will be shown the way out soon. Insha Allah (God willing)”. The implication here being that Khan resembles Trump because of his arrogance.
We have one in Pakistan too. He will be shown way out soon. Insha Allah! pic.twitter.com/i1qOil7jvf
— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) November 10, 2020
This caused an uproar among the netizens as some people noted the screenshot showing the word “modi” being searched for in the shared article. They found this to be odd and quite possibly, a move in cahoots with the Indian government as it being shared after making sure that modi wasn’t mentioned in such an article has very bad implication.
US Embassy Retweets Anti-Government Post
The outrage only took a turn for the worse after the twitter account of US Embassy in Pakistan retweeted Ahsan Iqbal’s post. The retweet invited a furious reaction and widespread condemnation from both Pakistani citizens as well as political figures. Even though the retweet was soon deleted by the embassy, netizens were quick to capture screenshots.
Soon after, hashtags like #ApologiseUSEmbassy started trending on the social media platform. It was demanded by the embassy to officially issue an apology for this ‘disrespectful’ retweet.
As a Pakistani citizen I demand that the @usembislamabad must apologize for the embarrassing and disrespectful retweet from their account. #ApologiseUSembassy
— Imran Ghazali (@ImranGhazaliPK) November 11, 2020
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari also was one of many to strongly condemn the incident. “US Embassy still working in Trumpian mode in support of convicted absconder & intervening brazenly in our internal politics! Monroe Doctrine also died centuries ago! US Embassy must observe norms of diplomacy – so if fake then clarify thru tweet; if not then apology tweet needed,” she wrote on Twitter.
US Embassy still working in Trumpian mode in support of convicted absconder & intervening brazenly in our internal politics! Monroe Doctrine also died centuries ago! US Embassy must observe norms of diplomacy – so if fake then clarify thru tweet; if not then apology tweet needed pic.twitter.com/YI66Ykqqli
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) November 11, 2020
Amongst the PTI leaders condemning this also was Sindh Governor – Imran Ismail – who called out the absurdity of an embassy in Pakistan sharing derogatory remarks about its PM. He asked for immediate clarification and apology about the situation and told the foreign office to take action, if necessary.
This is utterly absurd, how can u @usembislamabad retweet against our PM @ImranKhanPTI containing derogatory remarks?This is against diplomatic protocols. An apology is needed with immediate clarification if fake or hacked. @ForeignOfficePk must take required action. pic.twitter.com/2BoVmrdVp8
— Imran Ismail (@ImranIsmailPTI) November 11, 2020
US Embassy Finally Issues Apology
After all the outrage, the US Embassy finally issued an apology, stating that someone had hacked its account to retweet that. The official twitter account for the embassy wrote,
“The US embassy Islamabad Twitter account was accessed last night without authorization. The US embassy does not endorse the posting or retweeting of political messages. We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from the unauthorized post.”
Dear Followers: The U.S. Embassy Islamabad Twitter account was accessed last night without authorization. The U.S. Embassy does not endorse the posting or retweeting of political messages. We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from the unauthorized post.
— U.S. Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) November 11, 2020
Though, this apology didn’t sit well with some as they believed the account actually wasn’t hacked. They argued that one of the embassy’s account handlers was pushing personal agenda. Shireen Mazari was one of these people and she stated that this apology wasn’t good enough, especially as it was issued after such great delay.
This not good enough esp after great delay! Account was clearly not hacked so someone who had access to it used it "without authorisation". Unacceptable that someone working in US Embassy pushing a particular pol party's agenda – has serious consequences incl staff visas scrutiny https://t.co/IWqYtRjVna
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) November 11, 2020
Tell us in the comments below if you think that the account was actually hacked or if Shireen Mazari’s suspicions are correct!
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