Recently Twitter has been abuzz with speculations that Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor has been dismissed from his duties. Amidst different hypothesis being shared on the micro-blogging site, it has been reported today that Asif Ghafoor has been transferred and posted as the general officer commanding of the Pakistan Army’s 40th Infantry Division based out of Okara in Pakistan’s Punjab providence.
Reports suggest that Ghafoor has been transferred as his tenure came to an end. He has been replaced by Major General Babar Iftikhar, who will be the new DG ISPR (Director General, Inter-Services Public Relations) of Pakistan army. The Pakistan Military spokesperson took to Twitter today to confirm his transfer.
Alhamdulillah.
Thanks to everyone I have remained associated with during the tenure. My very special thanks to Media all across. Can’t thank enough fellow Pakistanis for their love and support.
Best wishes to new DG ISPR for his success.#PakArmedForcesZindabad#PakistanZindabad— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) January 16, 2020
Major General Ghafoor was commissioned into the Pakistan Army in 1988 and appointed the director-general of ISPR in December 2016.
As the chief spokesperson of Pakistan’s military, Major General Asif Ghafoor has had a history of gaffes and bluster. He has been on several occasions called out for sharing incorrect information on social media platforms.
In fact, his recent “Should an already butchered be butchered again?” tweet had generated massive reactions on social media in Pakistan and many had condemned it as an open threat to massacre own citizens.
And Asif Ghafoor’s account was locked. Warned by twitter and he was forced to to delete the tweet in which he threatened people of Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/06laSdMSks
— فاتح ففتھ جنریشن وارفئیر (@AWGoraya) January 13, 2020
On May 26, Pakistan’s all-powerful military, which has been controlling the country, had tried to suppress a rights demonstration in the troubled region of Waziristan. At a peaceful protest organised by Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) – an umbrella organisation and a political movement for the protection of basic rights of Pashtuns in Pakistan – at Khar Kamar checkpoint in northern Waziristan, Pakistan’s dictatorial military initiated violent confrontation that left at least 13 people dead and 25 others wounded. Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor had mocked this incident which drew him flak on social media.
When news of Ghafoor being replaced started storming the micro-blogging site, many Pakistani ‘liberals’ and Twitter users wondered whether the Army spokesperson was being punished for his insensitive remark over his own people.
Is Butcher tweet a reason for transfer? Or it is usual transferring?#DGISPR#AsifGhafoor pic.twitter.com/RmmjJRGZSR
— Tayyab shinwari (@tayyab_shinwari) January 16, 2020
Known for his ludicrous shenanigans and lies, Pakistan Military spokesperson Asif Ghafoor has reduced himself to a silly troll on Twitter.
The abrogation of Article 370 in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir had rattled Pakistan to the core. Last year in July, Major Ghafoor had shared a doctored video of Air Marshal Keelor speaking on ’65 war as Balakot airstrikes. In a seemingly drunken tweet after the historic decision of abrogation of Article 370, Ghafoor proclaimed that Pakistan will ‘take Kashmir back‘. “It won’t be until just struggle of our Kashmiris succeeds. It will IA succeed,” he had tweeted (IA stands for InshaAllah).
