Pakistani Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad cannot seem to keep himself out of controversy. Following the daughter of an Afghan envoy to Pakistan being kidnapped, and later released, Ahmad, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed denied the incident and expressed scepticism toward the girl’s account of what happened. If denying the account of the abducted girl (who has now been released) wasn’t embarrassing enough, Ahmad has now become the subject of mockery in Pakistan for posting a video of him rowing at a farmhouse. The video, which Ahmad posted in all seriousness, and unironically, has since been taken over by the desis and turned into a meme-fest.
On Saturday, Ahmad posted a video of him gently rowing a boat at a lake. He captioned the video, “Second day of Eid: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed sailing at Freedom House.”
Unironically, he continued posting across his other social media, including Twitter, this time with a much longer link to a YouTube video of 49 seconds of him doing the exact same thing: rowing a boat.
Soon, Pakistani citizens noticed the video and turned it into mockery. For most of the video, the boat doesn’t appear to be moving, and is going around in a singular motion. The reason behind this is because Minister Ahmad appears to be rowing in only one patch of water instead of in any direction.
Interior minister on his way to free Kashmir.. pic.twitter.com/4DOI2qG35b— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) July 24, 2021
O Shaikh sahab kia kar Rahy hain kahan phasa lia hai apny ap ko — ASiF (@ASiF23901341) July 24, 2021
Sheikh saab bas chappu maar rahy, kashti hil e nai rahi https://t.co/rqNuA7VxQU— Asif (@AsifTweeets) July 26, 2021
When she leaves you in the middle of friend zone https://t.co/DdPSbvasJj— Waqas Ali Khan (@WAKhan_) July 25, 2021
Kabhi Baazigar toh kabhi ye…,Sahi hai— Gk (@Gk90861621) July 25, 2021
Kashmir toh nahi, kissi gande nale mei jaroor gira pada milegaa— Raj Goyal (@rajgup77) July 25, 2021
Me steering life having no idea where to go https://t.co/jolZD9jdk6— Maryam (@mrymnetics) July 25, 2021
Pakistani rower aka Sheikh Rashid gets gold medal in Rowing. #Tokyo2020 https://t.co/qBIwGiullY— King of Riyasat-E-Pudina (@RiyasatPudina) July 25, 2021
Me when I am asked to perform the tasks written on my CV but have no idea about them in real https://t.co/NCXrAMwS02— Waqas Gul (@Gul5Waqas) July 25, 2021
Sequel of Cast Away starring Sheikh Rasheed https://t.co/VTu4bBL0X7— A+ (@_iamthelegend_) July 25, 2021
This is not the first time a Pakistani Minister’s actions have gone viral on the Internet. In June, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had a brain-fade moment during an interview. In the 50 minutes long interview, Qureshi defended the Taliban as well, saying the group is ready for peace and “they have suffered as well.” The Pakistani foreign minister explained, “if you try and create this impression that the violence is high because of Taliban…that would be an exaggeration”. While the interview itself stirred up controversy, the Internet has noticed it for another reason: The ‘long’ pause Minister Qureshi takes before his answer. For a few seconds, instead of responding, he seems to be frozen mid-sentence, then again repeats it, and pauses in the same way for 9 seconds before his response.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan too, recently had a similar moment — except it was telecast live to millions of people. PM Imran Khan had a live telecast to the nation late in March, where he explained the political situation in the country that emerged after Wednesday’s Senate elections in which the opposition managed to stage an upset. He lashed out at the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for “making a mockery of democracy”, while also calling out the ECP for “protecting those who made money by holding the Senate elections through secret ballot.
