The United States embassy in Islamabad on Wednesday seek the apology for retweeting an “unauthorized” post about the Prime Minister Imran Khan by PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal after it flashed disgrace on social media. “The US embassy Islamabad Twitter account was retrieved last night without authorization. The US embassy does not authorize the posting or retweeting of political posts. We apologize for any misunderstanding that may have caused from the unauthorized post,” the embassy said on its Twitter account.
The whole drama started after Iqbal on Tuesday displayed a screenshot on the social networking site of an article by The Washington Post entitled as “Trump’s defeat is a blow for the world’s demagogues and dictators”.
“We have one in Pakistan too. He will be guided through the way out shortly,” Iqbal said in his tweet, in what was an actual reference to Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The sharing of Ahsan Iqbal’s tweet by the US embassy’s Twitter account quickly sparked atrocity, as government representatives, including a federal minister and the Sindh governor, called upon the embassy to esteem diplomatic norms and subject an apology.
The hashtag #ApologiseUSembassy also started trending on Twitter on Wednesday.
“US embassy still operational in Trumpian mode in provision of convicted escapee and overruling brazenly in our inside politics,” Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said before the embassy issued an apology.
“Monroe dogma also died periods ago! US embassy must observe norms of diplomacy,” she said.
The minister also expressed her discontent with the apology issued by the US embassy.
“Account was obviously not hacked so someone who had access to it used it ‘without authorization’. Intolerable that someone working in the US embassy is pushing a specific political party’s agenda,” she said.
Sindh Governor Imran Ismail advised the Foreign Office to take action against the embassy.
“This is completely ridiculous, how can the US embassy retweet something comprising insulting remarks against our premier? This is against diplomatic etiquettes. An apology is needed with instant clarification if fake or hacked,” he said.
Special Associate to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill said it was the first time ever an embassy was seen “impertinent” to its own legitimately elected president. “We assume some heads must roll. This is intolerable!” he said.
Head of PTI’s Digital Media Wing, Imran Ghazali, had also necessitated an apology for the “awkward and disrespectful tweet” from the US embassy’s account.
