Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Saturday added to his list of gaffes, including wrong facts, attributions and geographical misinformation by misquoting national poet and philosopher Allama Iqbal which he later corrected but not before social media users noticed.
Taking to micro-blogging website Twitter earlier today, the prime minister shared an apparent WhatsApp forward image to his nearly 12 million followers.
It may be noted here that WhatsApp is notorious for the spread of false and doctored information.
This poem by Iqbal reflects how I try to lead my life. I urge our youth to understand and absorb the poem of the great Iqbal and I guarantee them that it will release their great God-given potential that we all possess as His greatest creation Ashraf ul Mukhluqat. pic.twitter.com/oyxkTlMrdc
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) June 6, 2020
“This poem by Iqbal reflects how I try to lead my life. I urge our youth to understand and absorb the poem of the great Iqbal and I guarantee them that it will release their great God-given potential that we all possess as His greatest creation Ashraf ul Mukhluqat,” he tweeted along with the image.
Twitter users were quick to point out the mistake telling the premier to fact-check before posting anything on social media, with “Iqbal” becoming a top trend on Twitter in Pakistan.
Former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani said that the quote was not from Iqbal or any of his book.
This poem is not Iqbal’s & is not in any of Iqbal’s books. Probably lifted from the internet, where many amateurs attribute their ‘poems’ to well known poets. Sad that the Prime Minister of Pakistan does not even have a staffer who knows his supposedly favorite poet’s work. https://t.co/rABuJ5OoB9
— Husain Haqqani (@husainhaqqani) June 6, 2020
“Not every Whatsapp message is to be believed,” was the rejoinder from journalist Naila Inayat.
haqeeqat hoti nahin har WhatsApp forward.. https://t.co/dKPxm07L3O
— Naila Inayat नायला इनायत (@nailainayat) June 6, 2020
While citizens ridiculed the premier, Marvi Sirmed also joined in.
PM tweets an imposter’s poem as Sir Dr Mohammad Iqbal’s poem. Most probably he got it via whatsapp from one of his compatriots who was too eager to get noticed. @ImranKhanPTI Don’t make this office a laughing stock for heaven’s sake. https://t.co/CEkvnqFiIq
— Marvi Sirmed (@marvisirmed) June 6, 2020
Journalist Hamid Mir, however, came to the rescue and pointed out that the poem was penned by Assad Maroof.
PM sahib this poem was written by Assad Maroof not by Allamah Iqbal https://t.co/hxRqFZxegC
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) June 6, 2020
Social media user Salman Masood added that anyone acquainted with Iqbal’s work would know that the poem wasn’t among his works due to the style and diction used.
Even casual readers of Iqbal’s work could see through and figure out that it was not a poem of the great poet — the diction, the style was not of Iqbal.
The tweet about the poem itself was a bit off.
Could it be that a staffer tweeted it and PM IK had just given his assent?— Salman Masood (@salmanmasood) June 6, 2020
It may be mentioned here that the premier has claimed that Allama Iqbal has his favourite poet on numerous occasions.
After the backlash, he corrected himself saying he may have posted the wrong facts but wanted to express the same thing as the poem he posted.
I stand corrected – this is not Allama Iqbal’s poem but the message conveyed is what I have stood by and tried to follow and if our youth absorbs this message it will release their great God- given potential that all of us possess as His greatest creation Ashraf ul Mukhluqat. https://t.co/SvDVrakc5d
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) June 6, 2020
