Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has unfollowed veteran journalist and analyst Hamid Mir on Twitter, a development that Mir says is no less than an “honour”.
The episode that follows Mir’s anti-government tirade ever since his interview of arrested former president Asif Ali Zardari was taken off the air, has left the micro-blogging website divided as people argue if it proves the premier’s “inability to take criticism”.
It surfaced on social media on Monday evening through an account called Siasat Bot that keeps track of the Twitter handles of major politicians and political parties.
Earlier, Mir’s video had also gone viral on social media wherein he demanded his arrest which was termed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters as propaganda against the government under the guise of freedom of media.
Following this, supporters of the ruling PTI had been carrying out a campaign against the journalist who has now been unfollowed by the premier on Twitter.
PM Imran reportedly had 19 followers before clicking the “unfollow” button on Mir. The 18 accounts that he still follows include those of organisations that he himself heads, such as the PTI, Shaukat Khanum Hospital and Namal University.
The other accounts he follows include that belonging to his party’s senior leaders.
Mir himself took to Twitter to indirectly address the development. Retweeting an old post, he shared how “he had become unfavorable to PTI after he started criticising them”.
Speaking to a private news website, Mir said that he was “honoured” to be unfollowed by the chief executive of the country.
