ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Office on Wednesday denied the reports which claimed Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Jalil Abbas Jilani was allegedly admonished by the White House for posting a photograph with US first lady Michelle Obama on his official Twitter account.
In a statement, the foreign office said media reports about a letter of displeasure from the White House to Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Jalil Abbas Jilani were “completely incorrect and baseless”.
Some reports claimed on Tuesday that White House has in a strongly-worded letter addressed to the ambassador, criticised the actions of Pakistan’s top diplomat.
“The official letter showed displeasure and accused the Pakistani envoy of breaching trust and being undiplomatic in his action,” the reports said.
“Mrs. Obama’s brief visit to the residence of the ambassador was purely personal and extracting any political gain out of that was unprofessional,” a report quoted the letter as saying.
According to the report, the letter was sent in connection with a picture tweeted out by the ambassador in the last week of May this year. The tweeted image showed Ambassador Jilani and his wife with the first lady, Michelle Obama. “It was an absolute delight hosting FLOTUS at Pakistan House today,” Jilani had said in his Tweet.
Jilani, however, removed the photograph from his Twitter wall.
Michelle Obama’s visit to Pakistan House (Jilani’s residence) was connected with his son’s graduation party, who attended the same school as President Barack Obama’s daughters.
However, the picture tweeted by Jilani gave an impression that the US first lady had close ties with the Pakistani ambassador’s family.
Pakistan foreign office spokesman Nafees Zakariya said it was “unethical” on the part of the Washington-based reporter to have filed a “baseless story without verifying its authenticity”.
“No such letter from the White House has been received either in our mission in Washington or this ministry. It is nothing but a figment of the reporter’s own imagination,” it said.
