The world over, leaders of nations try their best not to spread panic or fear at times of turbulence, following a terror attack. But US President Donald Trump has once again proven that he belongs to a new (read: bad) breed of leaders who only knows how to add fuel to the fire. After the London attacks on Sunday, the June 4th, Mr Trump used his favourite social media platform, Twitter, to take a jibe at London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan.
In his tweet, he wrote ‘at least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is “no reason to be alarmed!”’ Mr Trump was quoting Mr Khan from a recent interview. However, his remark was taken out of context and used to create fear owing to Mr Khan’s religious affiliation. In the interview, Mr Khan was, in fact, urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they see more police and armed officers on the streets as a precautionary measure derived from previous terror attacks.
Ever since Mr Trump came into power, he and Mr Khan have had a bitter relationship as the US president and his family has never left alone the chance to put Mr Khan on the spot, often taking his quotes out of context; all this only because he is Muslim. They’re not even sparing him at a fragile time of a terror attack, when the last thing Londoners want is to doubt their own mayor.
While we were growing up we were repeatedly taught by our parents and teachers to think before we speak. And as the president of the world’s superpower, Mr Trump should be advised to do the same: to think before he tweets.
ALINA ARIF
Karachi
