The official Twitter account of Pakistan’s embassy in Serbia tweeted criticism targeting Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday, citing rising inflation and alleged non-payment of salaries for three months. Two hours later, the Foreign Office issued a statement, saying social media accounts of the embassy had been hacked.
The tweets have since been deleted.
“The Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts of the Embassy of Pakistan in Serbia have been hacked. Messages being posted on these accounts are not from the Embassy of Pakistan in Serbia,” the Foreign Office spokesperson tweeted.
Later, Pakistan’s embassy in Serbia also said the account had been hacked and a “baseless” tweet was posted on it from a device in Karachi.
“The Twitter account of the Embassy of Pakistan [in] Belgrade, Serbia (@PakinSerbia) was hacked and logged in from a Chrome desktop on a Windows device in Karachi, Pakistan at 05:59 hours local time (09:59 PST),” a statement issued by the embassy said, adding that a message was posted from the hacked account at 6:59am local time (10:59 PST), which was not from the embassy.
“After the hacking of the Twitter account, a baseless and unfactual post was […] made regarding the non-payment of salaries. This was totally false and far from reality.” The tweet from the embassy’s verified account stated: “With inflation breaking all previous records, how long do you expect @ImranKhanPTI that we [government] official will remain silent & keep working for you without been paid for past 3 months & our children been forced out of school due to non payment of fees. Is this #NayaPakistan ?”
The tweet along with the text critising the premier included a parody song with the “Ghabrana nahi hai (we do not have to worry)” catchphrase. Under the above tweet, the account posted another tweet saying: “I am sorry @ImranKhanPTI, am not left with another option.”
According to the embassy’s statement, all of its employees are paid their salaries regularly, “and there is no disruption in the education of the children of [its] officers and staff.” “The embassy is receiving funds from Islamabad on a regular basis,” the statement read. The statement further said the embassy’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were also hacked apparently using the same device from which its Twitter account was hacked. “The Twitter account was retrieved at 09:11 hours local time (13:11 PST),” it said, adding that the IP address of the device used for hacking it was being shared with relevant quarters in Pakistan for further investigation into the matter.