PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday issued an apology and deleted a tweet regarding slain journalist Arshad Sharif after it was deemed “insensitive and shameful” and drew widespread condemnation from politicians, journalists, and activists.
Taking to Twitter, Maryam Nawaz said she did not intend to mock anyone but her tweet was about learning lessons from the past. She also said that she is deleting the tweet and apologized.
“My tweet was NOT aimed at mocking someone but about learning lessons from the past. I am undoing the tweet and apologize for the hurt it may have caused the aggrieved which never was my intention. May no one ever have to go through this pain. Prayers for the bereaved family,” Maryam Nawaz said.
My tweet was NOT aimed at mocking someone but about learning our lessons from the past. I am undoing the tweet & 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.
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) October 25, 2022
Pakistan is currently mourning the loss of Arshad Sharif. The news of him being shot dead by the Kenyan police in a case of “mistaken identity” was received with shock and condolences from across the political aisle.
Read more: Arshad Sharif was killed in ‘targeted attack’: Imran Khan
Earlier, Maryam Nawaz retweeted a tweet that claimed that Sharif, during his lifetime, had mocked the circumstances of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s mother’s death only to meet a similar end himself. The PML-N leader retweeted the post with the caption, “This is a lesson for mankind that we must all imbibe.”
Her tweet caused immense uproar across Pakistan. Comments of Maryam Nawaz on the death of Arshad Sharif triggered social media users who called her tweet ‘insensitive’ and disturbing. Prominent journalists like Nasim Zehra and Ansar Abbasi have called her tweet ‘ill-timed’. They advised her to go silent on the matter.
Read more: Maryam Nawaz condemned for ‘distasteful’ tweet on death of Arshad Sharif
Reacting to Maryam’s now deleted comment, Arshad Sharif’s widow Javeria Siddique said: “Have some shame Maryam and fear God.”
Javeria Siddique also shared old tweets of hers and Arshad Sharif’s praying for Maryam Nawaz when she was going for surgery, and also praying for her mother, the late Kulsoom Nawaz.
مریم نواز شرم کر
اور اللہ سے ڈر https://t.co/HDUeCt1EIf pic.twitter.com/F5gObpIlr9— Javeria Siddique (@javerias) October 25, 2022