PM Imran Khan has had a tough week. He has been under immense fire from all quarters over his statements during his Iran visit. First, Khan said that Pakistan needs to stop use of its territory against Iran, forcing PM Office to offer an official ‘clarification’ which said that Khan meant Pakistan had to tackle ‘foreign elements’ using Pakistan’s territory to target neighbouring countries. The next day, PM said Germany and Japan shared borders. Govt spokespersons again clarified that it was not what Khan meant. He received severe criticism over Japan-Germany comment. Among the loudest voices was Bilawal Bhutto’s who called Khan’s statements ‘childish’ and added, ‘this is what happens when Oxford admits people on sports basis’ The action continued on Wednesday when Imran Khan allegedly called Bilawal ‘Sahiba’ during a speech in Waziristan.
This resulted in severe backlash as people called Khan out for being ‘misogynist’, ‘sexist’ and ‘disrespectful’. But singer Salman Ahmed backed Imran Khan’s comments saying, Pakistan’s liberals can’t digest ‘Sahiba’ for Bilawal. PM Imran Khan has always resorted to personal jabs at political opponents in the past.
But even if it was a slip of ‘tounge’, as Senator Faisal Javed Khan puts it, shouldn’t the prime minister of a country act more responsibly? After all, ‘PM’ Khan is not representing his individual self. He is representing Pakistan now. We can’t afford his tongue slips every other day.
