“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
All people commit sins and make mistakes.
God forgives them, and people are acting in a godlike (divine) way when they forgive.”
When the young Alexander Pope famously wrote these lines in a didactic poem entitled An Essay on Criticism as far back as the 17th century, he did not know that the first line would soon make its way into English lexicon, taking on the status of a proverb. This saying is often quoted and resorted to by someone who makes a mistake and seeks apology thereafter. There is no gainsaying that human beings are not infallible, and that making mistakes is inherent in human nature.
However, it is not expected of a prime minister to make embarrassing mistakes, and that too about history and geography, thereby dealing a huge blow to the image of his country. It is generally considered that a prime minister being the elected representative of the people would be a paragon of virtue and a man of integrity who would not involve himself in personal attacks aimed at political rivals. He would rise above mudslinging, and bridge differences instead of deepening the polarisation. In a word, a person towards whom the nation looks up to.An onerous responsibility falls upon the shoulders of a prime minister to tread carefully when he is visiting a foreign country. To put a spin on history and distort hard-geographical facts would give a bad impression about a prime minister.
The world of Twitter was abuzz with memes about Khan’s latest ‘comic mistake’. He was mocked, and was guffawed at
Watching Prime Minister Imran Khan committing a faux pas one could not believe one’s eyes. While holding a joint press conference with Hassan Rouhani, Prime Minister Khan confidently said that following the Second World War, Germany and Japan conducted trade on their borders. People got an opportunity to have a good laugh. They took to Google to find out the distance between Japan and Germany. They were in for a surprise: Japan and Germany stand 5,500 miles apart from each other.
The world of Twitter was abuzz with memes about Khan’s latest ‘comic mistake’. He was mocked, and was guffawed at. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took jibes at him, questioning his Oxford education. Needless to mention that Khan is not the only one who gets his geography wrong. Donald Trump never ceases to surprise us. He stumbles from one geography gaffe to another. He too was taken to task by the American media. However, this does not justify Khan’s blunders.
To add insult to injury, Khan made a shocking ‘acknowledgment’ during the joint press conference that terrorists had in the past misused Pakistani territory to undertake attacks against Iran. This statement came under withering and blistering criticism. The opposition parties, particularly the PPP, raked Khan over the coals, and stressed that it was no laughing matter.
No amount of damage control can downplay or make light of the controversial remarks made by Khan. He has proverbially crossed the Rubicon. These remarks could return to haunt him and Pakistan in the times to come. There is no guarantee that Pakistan would not be beaten with the stick of the ‘confession’ made during the press conference.
Not that it is the first time that Khan has proverbially shot from the hip, making himself a laughing stock. Previously, he called Africa a country, and said that Chinese trains were faster than the speed of the light. Nor is this all.
These are huge mistakes indeed, and they cannot be explained away by terming all of them ‘slips of the tongue’. Nor is it a matter of eating the proverbial words. At the end of the day, these mistakes not only betray Khan’s lack of knowledge when it comes to general knowledge, geography and religious history, but they also go a long way towards reinforcing the impression that he largely thinks after he speaks and not the other way round.
As if on the offensive and in the heat of the moment, Prime Minister Khan while addressing Cadet College, Spinkai made deliberate misogynistic and sexist comments about Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. These comments have stirred up a virtual hornet’s nest. The PPP harshly criticised Khan for indulging in name-calling.
All said and done, there are a number of thorny questions that need answers: Is Imran Khan still standing on the container and bringing into play confrontational politics? Is he showing his true colours? Are the people of Pakistan increasingly becoming disillusioned? Are we fast sliding towards an abyss with no end in sight? And finally, is the incumbent government digging its own grave, thereby buckling under its own weight?
The writer is a Lahore-based lawyer