US embassy in Islamabad issued an apology over sharing ‘unauthorized’ tweet against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In a tweet, the US embassy claimed, “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 apologies 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
The official account of the embassy retweeted a comment about the premier originally posted by PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal. Sharing a screenshot of The Washington Post article titled “Trump’s defeat is a blow for the world’s demagogues and dictators”, Ahsan Iqbal wrote, “We have one in Pakistan too. He will be shown the way out soon.”
The tweet was shared by the US embassy in Islamabad’s official account, which sparked outrage, not just from common citizens, but also from government officials, including a federal minister and a provincial governor.
Shireen Mazari called it an intervention in our internal politics, and urged the embassy to observe norms of diplomacy.
She even refused to believe the embassy’s claim regarding the hacking attempt, and said, “Account was clearly not hacked so someone who had access to it used it ‘without authorization’. Unacceptable that someone working in the US embassy is pushing a particular political party’s agenda.”
