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Video shows Pak PM delegation being met with 'chor-chor' slogans: Local media
The video is said to have emerged from the Masjid-e-Nabawi in Madina on Thursday. The clip, being widely shared on social media, showed hundreds of pilgrims raising the slogan as the delegation made its way to the Masjid-e-Nabawi, escorted by security personnel.
After Pakistan’s new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, kicked off his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia as the premier of the country, reports have emerged of a group of people chanting unwelcoming slogans for the Sharif-led delegation. Videos, which have not been independently verified, have been published by Pakistan’s news platforms that show the crowd around the delegation, shouting - “Chor, Chor (thief)”.
The video is said to have emerged from the Masjid-e-Nabawi in Madina on Thursday. The clip, being widely shared on social media, showed hundreds of pilgrims raising the slogan as the delegation made its way to the Masjid-e-Nabawi, escorted by security personnel.
Pakistan's federal minister of Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb and member of the National Assembly Shahzain Bugti were seen in the video among others.
In a report by Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune on Friday, Marriyum Aurangzeb blamed ousted PM Imran Khan for the protest at the Masjid-e-Nabawi. "I will not name this person on this holy land because I do not want to use this land for politics. But they have destroyed the (Pakistani) society," the minister was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Aurangzeb further said that she regretted there was a section of society, which was maintaining such hateful traditions, the report added.
On the other hand, Pakistan’s former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, a member of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), tweeted on Friday, "Imported govt of criminals brought in by US regime change conspiracy met by chants of "thieves" in Madina Sharif. I deleted the video tweeted earlier because I heard some abusive words, especially inappropriate in a place of worship. This criminal gang will be shamed by Pakistanis wherever they go."
Mazari slammed the Shehbaz Sharif government by saying, “For the record, the people showing their anger in Madina Sharif and other parts of the world are Pakistanis angry that a US regime change conspiracy targeted a democratically elected Pak PM aided by segments of media & powerful local abettors to thrust criminals back into power!”
The former minister also tweeted that not all members who protested at the Masjid-e-Nabawi belonged to the PTI, and these were Pakistanis who had seen the country plundered by these looters (in reference to Shehbaz Sharif's cabinet).
Post the incident, it was said that police arrested some pilgrims for violating security, news agency ANI reported, citing local media.
