There seems to be quite a ruckus on social media, especially on X (Formerly Twitter), about this particular handshake between Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and visiting UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed, The ruler of the UAE had arrived in Rahimyar Khan in south Punjab along with a large retinue of family members and officials, presumably for the winter hunting season when Gulf royals come to the area to hunt the endangered houbara bustard.
I couldn't make sense of what the fuss was all about because in this day and age it is not unexpected for even a female Muslim politician to shake hands with a visiting dignitary. Having said that, one can expect disagreement over this but to launch a smear campaign targeting the character of the female political leader is downright vile and needs to be condemned. However, this is precisely what has been happening over the past few days with followers of the PTI and members of its social media team carrying out a full-fledged attack on the person of the Punjab chief minister.
Of course, in the past we have pictures of Imran Khan shaking hands with foreign dignitaries regardless of gender. We have also seen former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and former Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar shake hands with male foreign dignitaries. There is a clear double standard in society so that the role that society envisions for a woman is one that prevents her from doing many of the things that men can do.
Their aim to scandalise and mock the Punjab chief minister – whom most PTI supporters unequivocally hate – their social media campaign could very well end up damaging bilateral relations with one of Pakistan’s closest allies and friends
In this particular case, the critics are also up in arms (no pun intended of course) because they say that the issue is in particular with the way the Punjab chief minister had shaken the visiting dignitary's hand. To that, one can only say that there's no set particular way for a handshake. Handshakes are done to show mutual respect and can also be indicative of friendship and affection.
The smear campaign was followed up with AI-generated videos disseminated from several accounts of people associated with the PTI showing the Punjab chief minister jumping into the lap of the visiting UAE President. Such posts are defamatory and offensive and would be seen as a slight by the foreign government and dignitary concerned. This means that in their aim to scandalise and mock the Punjab chief minister – whom most PTI supporters unequivocally hate – their social media campaign could very well end up damaging bilateral relations with one of Pakistan’s closest allies and friends.
Of course, this, by and large, is par for the course for most of Imran Khan’s supporters, especially the hardened variety. For them the objective remains very much to please the leader, to get him out of jail, to believe his each and every word as if it were the Gospel, to compare him to Jinnah (many would even consider him to be bigger than Jinnah!), and everything else can quite literally go to hell. For such people, there is no national interest bigger than the leader since the mindset is such that the nation cannot exist without the leader and hence the interests of both are the same.
This is precisely what they have achieved with this social media smear campaign whose primary aim is the Punjab chief minister but into which they also dragged the visiting UAE President. And to think, that Pakistanis were complaining why the UAE has stopped issuing them visit visas. It seems that unannounced ban will remain in force for quite some time.