Prime Minister Imran Khan garnered support on social media after Dawn’s journalist mocked him on his statement that Turks ruled subcontinent in the past.
https://twitter.com/Professor_heist/status/1228373573695352832?s=20
While addressing a joint ceremony along with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday, who was on his two-day tour, PM Khan said Pakistanis and Turks share a historic connection because Turks have ruled this part of the world for centuries.
WHAT? Turks ruled Hindustan? When??? Did he confuse Mughals with Turks 🤦🏻♀️ https://t.co/F23eU8GNil
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) February 15, 2020
But, Dawn journalist Baqir Sajjad derided Prime Minister Imran Khan, who claimed in a tweet that he made a factually incorrect statement but ended up embarrassing himself since he probably assumed that PM Khan has confused Mughal empire with Ottoman empire.
“I envy PM @ImranKhanPTI’s knowledge about history. You always get to know new things after listening to him. Just got to know that #India remained under #Ottoman Empire’s rule for 600 years” wrote Dawn journalist in his tweet.
He said Turks not Ottomon Empire. Yes, you really need some better understanding of history if you think all Turk rulers were supposed to be under Ottoman Empire. Khiljis, Mamluks, Tughluqs, Mughals were of Turk descent.
— Musa Virk (@MusaNV18) February 14, 2020
Huzoor Mughals were turks!!
And rulers before them were too of Turkish descent!
He said turks ruled over India for more than 600 years and thats true
He never used the word Ottoman but rather Turks. Theres a difference— M. Akbar Bajwa (@akbarbajwa) February 14, 2020
His uninformed tweet reflected his lack of knowledge on the ethnic origins of Mughal emperors, who are said to share Turkic and Mongolian ancestry. Even PPP senator Sherry Rehman also joined the baseless mockery to denigrate Prime Minister Imran Khan that exposed her poor knowledge on history.
A score of social media users corrected Dawn’s journalist for making wrong assumptions and advised him to delete his tweet to elude further embarrassment.
Read more: Imran Khan a hit in Davos: Time Magazine’s Davos edition
Social media users taught both Sherry Rehman and Baqir Sajjad about the history of Turkish rulers, their origin, the connotation of the word ‘Turks’ and their presence in the subcontinent for more than 500 years.
In a succinct message, one Twitter user wrote that he talked about the Turkish rulers and not the Ottoman Empire. Adding that “All Ottomans were not Turks and all Turks were not Ottomans. Go and have a little reading of history.”
“The Turkish presence in the Indian subcontinent began in the first half of the 11th century A.D. and lasted for more than 500 years. Ghaznavid rule was followed by that of Ghoris. Next, the Slave dynasty was founded by the Turkish slave Quṭb al-Dīn AibaK,” wrote one social media user.
The real founder of the Turkish empire in India was Qutub-ud-din Aibak. Even though it was Mohammad Ghori who established Turkish rule in India following his victory over Prithvi Raj Chauhan in 1192, he did not rule over India. Instead, he left Qutubuddin as his Governor in Delhi
— ahmad wattoo (@wattoorocx) February 15, 2020
“The real founder of the Turkish empire in India was Qutub-ud-din Aibak. Even though it was Mohammad Ghori who established Turkish rule in India following his victory over Prithvi Raj Chauhan in 1192, he did not rule over India. Instead, he left Qutubuddin as his Governor in Delhi,” he wrote further.