Prime Minister Imran Khan was at the centre of a Twitter controversy on Friday as the official handle of Pakistan’s embassy in Serbia posted a message severely criticising the PM back home.
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“With inflation breaking all previous records, how long do you expect Imran Khan that we government official(s) will remain silent and keep working for you without been paid for past 3 months and our children been forced out of school due to non-payment of fees. Is this naya (new) Pakistan?” the embassy tweeted.
With inflation breaking all previous records, how long do you expect @ImranKhanPTI that we goverment official will remain silent & keep working for you without been paid for past 3 months & our children been forced out of school due to non payment of fees
Is this #NayaPakistan ? pic.twitter.com/PwtZNV84tv
— Pakistan Embassy Serbia (@PakinSerbia) December 3, 2021
“I am sorry, Imran Khan, am not left with another option,” the tweet added, along with a parody music video on the Pakistani Prime Minister.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, said that the social media profiles of its Embassy in Serbia were hacked. “The Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts of the Embassy of Pakistan in Serbia have been hacked. Messages being posted on these accounts are not from the Embassy of Pakistan in Serbia,” it stated on Twitter.
The foreign ministry is looking into the matter, Dr Khalid, the man who handles PM Khan’s social media, said while reacting to the embassy’s tweet.
In the comments section, many asked who is running this handle, and whether the account has been hacked. Yet, some defended whoever posted the tweets as an act of desperation.
In October, it was reported that inflation for the last three years in Pakistan had reached the highest level in the past 70 years, which led to protests by opposition parties. Food prices have doubled, while the prices of ghee, oil, sugar, flour and poultry have reached record high.
“The country is paying the price for inflation, economic devastation and unemployment and the government has no realisation that it is not only the poor but even those holding white-collar jobs that have been crushed by it,” the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (N) chief Shahbaz Sharif had said.
