An apparent social media gaffe has sparked international scrutiny after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s tweet on X that Forbes reports was allegedly scripted by outsiders.
The post, which was a high-stakes appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the ongoing Iran crisis, initially included a header labeled “Draft — Pakistan’s PM Message,” leading to widespread speculation that the Prime Minister’s diplomatic communications are being managed by external entities or third-party advisors.
While the message was intended to seek a two-week extension on a critical deadline concerning the Strait of Hormuz, the inclusion of the internal drafting notes has instead shifted the focus toward the authenticity of the government’s official voice during a period of intense regional instability.
According to Forbes, the incident occurred when Sharif took to the social media platform X to request a two-week extension on a critical deadline set by the Trump administration for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The report notes that the message appeared to be “scripted by someone else” because the initial version of the post inadvertently included the header “Draft — Pakistan’s PM Message,” suggesting that the text was a pre-written template provided to the Prime Minister.
Forbes details how this technical oversight sparked immediate speculation regarding who is truly crafting Pakistan’s foreign policy communications, with critics suggesting the involvement of external lobbyists or strategic advisors.
While X provides an edit history for modified posts, the Prime Minister’s team opted to delete the original message entirely and upload a ‘cleaned’ version—an apparent attempt to remove the digital trail of the drafting notes. However, the original ‘Draft’ header had already been captured by eagle-eyed users and digital archivers, fueling the narrative of a scripted appeal.”
