Islamabad: On Wednesday, the US Embassy apologize in Islamabad after coming under fire for retweeting a hate post by PML-N Leader Asad Iqbal. The news broke out when someone using US embassy’s official Twitter account committed a blunder.
Ahsan Iqbal tweeted after Donald Trump’s defeat in election that ““We have one in Pakistan too. He will be shown way out soon. Insha Allah!” He remarked this on a Washington Post article titled ‘Trump’s defeat is a blow for the world’s demagogues and dictators’.
The retweet was soon deleted after post by the embassy but the Twitterati captured the screenshots. The controversy starting with furious reactions from PTI supporters and Pakistani citizens. The hashtag #ApologiseUSEmbassy started trending on Twitter platform.
In the afternoon, the US embassy apologized officially for the Retweet blunder clarifying that ” We do not endorse any political party or their message. We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from the unauthorized post.” They also mentioned that it was a mistake that their official account was mishandled. The post was completely unauthorized.
Human Rights Minister, Shireen Mazari strongly disapproved the incident tweeting “US Embassy still working in Trumpian mode in support of convicted absconder & intervening brazenly in our internal politics!”
However, Shireen Mazari didn’t accept the apology and was not satisfied with the embassy’s explanation after a long delay. She condemned that ‘It is unacceptable that their account was mishandled and someone from the embassy endorsed a particular party’s political agenda.’ She was angry that account was clearly not hacked and someone who had access to it posted it without authorization.
People appealed to the Government to take action against the US embassy and demand official apology.
Prime Minister’s special assistant Shahbaz Gill also tweeted against the derogatory remarks about US ex-president and Pakistan’s sitting Prime Minister. He said it is highly disrespectful for which US embassy apologize. “Embarrassing. First time ever seen an embassy insulting its own lawful elected president. We expect some heads must roll. This is unacceptable!”