Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday held an in-person meeting in a closed room with a bunch of people from Pakistani media. This was informed by Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Information & Broadcasting Shibli Faraz. Pakistan PM Imran Khan was recently tested positive for Chinese coronavirus and is currently undergoing treatment.
Prime minister with the media team today at Bani gala pic.twitter.com/Vk0oWIUDed
— Senator Shibli Faraz (@shiblifaraz) March 25, 2021
Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi have both tested positive for the Chinese virus and are supposed to be in quarantine. Which means, they are not supposed to be meeting people in order to arrest the spread of virus. However, Khan, without any concern for health of others, held an indoor meeting with others, thereby increasing their risk to getting infected.
Khan was trolled by Netizens, mostly Pakistani individuals, who believed Khan’s act was irresponsible.
Meeting kr bhy li hai tu why release the images?
— سعد (@saaadmalikk) March 25, 2021
Horrible horrible messaging in a country where people already refuse to wear a mask and take covid seriously
Some were even upset that even though they flouted the norms of avoiding people when infected, they could have at least avoided sharing image. Since Pakistani citizens also do not normally wear masks and take precautionary measures.
Meeting kr bhy li hai tu why release the images?
— سعد (@saaadmalikk) March 25, 2021
Horrible horrible messaging in a country where people already refuse to wear a mask and take covid seriously
One Twitter user explained how responsible leaders behave at the time of pandemic. She shared image of British PM Boris Johnson holding a virtual meeting. While it was not clear whether the meeting was recent, but Johnson had tested positive for Chinese virus last year and has since recovered. But as precautionary measure, most leaders are still continuing to hold meeting virtually.
sir video link paar aacha pose nahi ayata for social media youthias moral boosting
— Adnan Hussain (@AdnanhussainAD) March 25, 2021
When one Twitter user pointed out this is bad optics, other joked how Khan’s pose does not come nicely in online meetings and hence such physical meeting was necessary.
Information minister ka yeh haal hai is aik tasweer sey kitni bad PR miley gi. Information ministry Allah k hawalay hai hamari.
— Rizwan (@Rizwow) March 25, 2021
Some Pakistanis took solace in self deprecation.
Zoom connections and publicly connected networks don't usually make the required security cut.
— The Southerner (@SaintsofSouth) March 25, 2021
InfoSec is important here.
Of course, there were others in Pakistan who thought such in-person meetings are important because information security is apparently more important than lives of people.
