Did Shoaib Akhtar fail to identify new PM Shahid Khaqan in a picture?

Ex-cricketer Shoaib Akhtar perhaps made a gaffe this morning in a tweet when he posted a picture of President Mamnoon Hussain administering oath to new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and referred either of them as a ‘Hindu political leader’.

Akhtar captioned the picture showing President and PM as: “A Hindu political leader Mr Darshan Lal is now a cabinet minister in Pakistan.This is our polite way of saying Pakistan is a secular state.”

As the new PM is taking oath, we assume it’s certainly Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi whom Akhtar is pointing at and confusing him for the Hindu cabinet member.

What followed next was torrent of comments from users wherein most of them were quick to point out Akhtar’s faux pas. One commenter made a terse yet targeted tweet: “Akhtar on a high”.

Akhtar insists ‘oath picture’ was just a reference

In a prompt response, Akhtar told users ‘questioning his IQ’ to concentrate on the message that implies we respect all religions. He added next that the picture was just a reference.

Since it was vague at first, people in general also didn’t get his ‘intended message’.

Below is the picture of Hindu Minister Darshan Lal.

Mr. Lal has been allocated the portfolio of Inter Provincial Coordination. Lal, 65, is a practising doctor from Mirpur Mathelo town in Ghotki district of Sindh.

In 2013, he was elected to the national assembly for the second time on PML-N ticket on a reserved seat for minorities.

 

And it’s not the first time that Shoaib Akhtar took the Pakistani Twitter users by storm. In July last year, he made ‘controversial and untimely’ tweet confirming cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan “is getting married.”

Akhtar claimed that Imran Khan himself told him about his marriage plans two months ago. “But Imran didn’t tell with whom he is getting married,” he said in a tweet.

But, minutes after it was posted, Akhtar deleted his tweet for reasons better known to him. He may have realized that he has disclosed a scoop for journalists.