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ISLAMABAD: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s two-day visit to Pakistan has been replete with flowery rhetoric extolling mutual love between both countries, but the name chosen for a new joint think-tank has left some social media users giggling.
Dedicated to research on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $46 billion plan linking China´s restive west to the Arabian Sea, the newly inaugurated Research and Development International (RANDI) organisation has been widely pilloried because its acronym sounds like “whore” in Urdu and Hindi.
Social media users, including many from India — Islamabad and Beijing´s historic rival — have latched on to name as a form of commentary on Sino-Pak relations, saying the South Asian country has now been ‘bought’ by China. “Well, that´s an unfortunate name for a think tank...” tweeted Fatima Bhutto, a writer and political activist, in one of the more understated responses.“Pakistan is now officially China´s RANDI,” said another user Chandan Sandhu.Others criticised those who ridiculed the name and accused them of misogyny.
