Under-fire Maryam apologises over tweet about slain journalist

KARACHI: In a tweet sent out on Tuesday night, Maryam Nawaz Sharif apologised for an earlier tweet she had made regarding slain journalist Arshad Sharif. She also deleted her previous tweet.

After thousands had condemned her original tweet, Maryam Nawaz went on Twitter to say that her tweet “was not aimed at mocking someone but about learning our lessons from the past. I am undoing the tweet [and] apologise for the hurt it may have caused to the aggrieved which never was my intention. May no one ever have to go through this pain. Prayers for the bereaved family.”

Earlier in the day, Maryam Nawaz had retweeted a tweet by an unknown Twitter user. The tweet in question had shared a photo of Arshad Sharif’s coffin arriving in Pakistan along with text that had criticised the slain journalist for mocking people’s death and disease.

Following Maryam Nawaz’s afternoon tweet, there was a flood of condemnation by PTI leaders, senior journalists and members of the civil society as well as general Twitter users. PTI’s Shireen Mazari called Maryam Nawaz “extremely cruel”. In the same tweet, Mazari also alleged that under “the imported government, Arshad Sharif Shaheed was forced to leave [Pakistan]” and that his “blood was on [Shehbaz Sharif’s] government”.

Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry too took offence to Maryam Nawaz’s tweet, saying that: “The purpose of this statement was to insult Arshad Sharif” and that she had “not just added to the grief of Arshad Sharif’s family but to that of the whole nation.”

Former PTI MNA Maleeka Bokhari castigated Maryam Nawaz for “mocking a dead man who was murdered with such brutality”, adding that: “When we thought you couldn’t stoop any lower, you showed that you are just inhumane. You [and] your family hounded him. Wait for your karma.”

It was not just the PTI members that registered their protest regarding Maryam Nawaz’s tweet. Many senior journalists too took to Twitter to condemn Ms Nawaz’s choice of words and sense of timing.

Journalist Saleem Safi said that he was “very saddened by this retweet, which reflects the vengeful mentality of Maryam Nawaz. I also disagreed with Arshad Sharif’s journalism, but Maryam should remember the pain and shock of Arshad Sharif’s mother and wife at this time and then [re]consider her words. She should immediately delete the tweet and apologise to the family”.

Journalist Nasim Zehra also asked Maryam Nawaz how she “had the heart to do this” while reminding her that some things must be left to the Divine. 

As did journalist Asma Shirazi who quoted Maryam Nawaz’s tweet by saying: “Not in good taste at all, please delete. Thanks.” Shahzeb Khanzada had also criticised Maryam Nawaz for her tweet, saying that not only should she delete her tweet but also apologise: “It is not acceptable for any person to think that he should settle his account after someone’s death. This is the time to stand with Arshad Sharif’s family and get them justice, not such statements”. After Maryam Nawaz had tweeted her apology, former president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed wrote on Twitter that it was “a necessary apology. The original tweet by [Maryam Nawaz] was cruel and insensitive”. He added: “That said, people in media [and] politics who gleefully claimed Begum Kulsoom was faking her illness really can’t lecture anyone else about ethics.”