ISLAMABAD: The United States Embassy in Islamabad had to apologise for retweeting an ‘unauthorized’ post by opposition lawmaker, Ahsan Iqbal, apparently against Prime Minister Imran Khan, which triggered criticism from the government ministers and the social media users.
“Dear Followers: 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,” the Embassy said in a short statement issued from the same twitter account.
The embassy earlier attracted the ire from the social media users when a tweet from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal was retweeted from its official account on Tuesday night which was later deleted on Wednesday afternoon, and also tendered an apology to the tweets.
Iqbal had shared a screenshot of a headline from an article by a US newspaper, titled “Trump’s defeat is a blow for the world’s demagogues and dictators” with his own comment, saying: “We have one in Pakistan too. He will be shown way out soon. Insha Allah!”
Soon after the Embassy retweeted the post, the social media users started the #ApologiseUSembassy, which was trending top on Wednesday.
Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari and Governor Sindh Imran Ismail also took to Twitter, and strongly criticised the embassy for retweeting a post by an opposition lawmaker apparently against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“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,” Mazari tweeted before the embassy issued an apology.
She was also unsatisfied with the apology “especially after great delay” and also stated it “has serious consequences including staff visas scrutiny”.
“This not good enough especially after great delay! Account was clearly not hacked so someone who had access to it used it “without authorization”. Unacceptable that someone working in US Embassy pushing a particular political party's agenda - has serious consequences incl staff visas scrutiny.”
Governor Sindh Imran Ismail also termed retweeting a post by the US embassy against the prime minister as “utterly absurd” and sought Foreign Office to take action.
“This is utterly absurd, how can u [US Embassy Islamabad] retweet against our PM [Imran Khan] containing derogatory remarks? This is against diplomatic protocols. An apology is needed with immediate clarification if fake or hacked, Foreign Office must take required action,” the governor stated in a tweet.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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