Director General Inter-Services Public Relations(DG ISPR) Asif Ghafoor is a Twitter celebrity. He frequently tweets from his two accounts on Twitter, one of which is his personal and the other being the official ISPR account.
Through his tweets, he has played a role in keeping the public aware of the ‘fifth-generation war’ that the military believes threatens Pakistan. He is popular and everyone loves him. On this day, people are all praise for him as today is his birthday.
Let us look at five moments when Major General Asif Ghafoor was in the news for his controversial tweets.
When he rejected a notification from PM’s office
In April 2017, the prime minister’s office issued a notification by the Dawn Leaks inquiry committee, whereby it called for the role of editor of Dawn, Zaffar Abbas, and journalist Cyril Almeida in the leaks to be referred to All Pakistan Newspapers Society for necessary disciplinary action.
The DG ISPR sent out a tweet following the notification, saying that is was incomplete and that it stood rejected.
https://twitter.com/OfficialDGISPR/status/858257576210952192?s=20
When he called out Zaid Hamid for criticising the government
Following the capture and release of Indian pilot Abhinandan after a dogfight amidst the backdrop of the Pulwama incident in February 2019, controversial analyst Zaid Hamid tweeted that the Pakistan Air Force was upset over the release of the Indian pilot by Imran Khan. Hamid called the Imran Khan government afraid, and that the return of Abhinandan was a let-down for PAF.
Asif Ghafoor took to Twitter and criticised him for spreading disinformation about the armed forces, and reminded him that national decisions were taken through an institutional approach.
https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1172929178183843840?s=20
When he defended Neelum Munir
Neelum Munir’s item song in Kaaf Kangana came under much discussion, not because of how much the actor is liked, but more so because the project was by the ISPR. When someone shared Neelum Munir’s post about the item song being a project of ISPR, and pointed out to Asif Ghafoor how they felt bad about the item song being from a movie funded by ISPR, Asif Ghafoor responded by defending the actor. He stated that item song was by an Indian girl in the movie, as per her role, adding that the movie may be watched to know the context.
In his defence of the item song, the DG ISPR implied that doing an item song was not problematic as long as the actor was playing the role of a foreign person, which in Neelum’s case, was an Indian.
https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1188925880992718848?s=20
When he overruled the prime minister
As the opening of the Kartarpur corridor neared, Prime Minister Imran Khan waived off two requirements for the Sikh pilgrims intending to travel to Pakistan for Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary, one of them being the requirement of a passport.
The DG ISPR subsequently overruled the prime minister, and said in a comment on a private TV channel that Indian Sikh pilgrims would require a passport to travel through Kartarpur Corridor, the exact opposite of what the PM had said.
https://twitter.com/TalatHussain12/status/1192166620753469442?s=20
When he told Shahrukh Khan to stay in Bollywood
In August 2019, amidst the humanitarian crisis in Kashmir, Indian actor Shahrukh Khan shared the trailer of a Netflix series, Bard Of Blood, describing it as a thrilling tale of espionage. The story revolves around a RAW agent who works to save four Indian spies captured in Balochistan.
One of the critics of the show and Shahrukh’s tweet was the DG ISPR, who asked the king of Bollywood to consider the reality whereby Indian spy Kulbushan Yadav had been captured.
He asked the king of Bollywood to promote peace and humanity and to speak against the atrocities in Indian-occupied Kashmir and the Hindutva ideology prevalent in India.
https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1164900717057978368?s=20
Through his tweets, he has played a role in keeping the public aware of the ‘fifth-generation war’ that the military believes threatens Pakistan. He is popular and everyone loves him. On this day, people are all praise for him as today is his birthday.
Let us look at five moments when Major General Asif Ghafoor was in the news for his controversial tweets.
When he rejected a notification from PM’s office
In April 2017, the prime minister’s office issued a notification by the Dawn Leaks inquiry committee, whereby it called for the role of editor of Dawn, Zaffar Abbas, and journalist Cyril Almeida in the leaks to be referred to All Pakistan Newspapers Society for necessary disciplinary action.
The DG ISPR sent out a tweet following the notification, saying that is was incomplete and that it stood rejected.
https://twitter.com/OfficialDGISPR/status/858257576210952192?s=20
When he called out Zaid Hamid for criticising the government
Following the capture and release of Indian pilot Abhinandan after a dogfight amidst the backdrop of the Pulwama incident in February 2019, controversial analyst Zaid Hamid tweeted that the Pakistan Air Force was upset over the release of the Indian pilot by Imran Khan. Hamid called the Imran Khan government afraid, and that the return of Abhinandan was a let-down for PAF.
Asif Ghafoor took to Twitter and criticised him for spreading disinformation about the armed forces, and reminded him that national decisions were taken through an institutional approach.
https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1172929178183843840?s=20
When he defended Neelum Munir
Neelum Munir’s item song in Kaaf Kangana came under much discussion, not because of how much the actor is liked, but more so because the project was by the ISPR. When someone shared Neelum Munir’s post about the item song being a project of ISPR, and pointed out to Asif Ghafoor how they felt bad about the item song being from a movie funded by ISPR, Asif Ghafoor responded by defending the actor. He stated that item song was by an Indian girl in the movie, as per her role, adding that the movie may be watched to know the context.
In his defence of the item song, the DG ISPR implied that doing an item song was not problematic as long as the actor was playing the role of a foreign person, which in Neelum’s case, was an Indian.
https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1188925880992718848?s=20
When he overruled the prime minister
As the opening of the Kartarpur corridor neared, Prime Minister Imran Khan waived off two requirements for the Sikh pilgrims intending to travel to Pakistan for Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary, one of them being the requirement of a passport.
The DG ISPR subsequently overruled the prime minister, and said in a comment on a private TV channel that Indian Sikh pilgrims would require a passport to travel through Kartarpur Corridor, the exact opposite of what the PM had said.
https://twitter.com/TalatHussain12/status/1192166620753469442?s=20
When he told Shahrukh Khan to stay in Bollywood
In August 2019, amidst the humanitarian crisis in Kashmir, Indian actor Shahrukh Khan shared the trailer of a Netflix series, Bard Of Blood, describing it as a thrilling tale of espionage. The story revolves around a RAW agent who works to save four Indian spies captured in Balochistan.
One of the critics of the show and Shahrukh’s tweet was the DG ISPR, who asked the king of Bollywood to consider the reality whereby Indian spy Kulbushan Yadav had been captured.
He asked the king of Bollywood to promote peace and humanity and to speak against the atrocities in Indian-occupied Kashmir and the Hindutva ideology prevalent in India.
https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1164900717057978368?s=20