Imran Khan’s pet dogs get their own page on Wikipedia

August 7, 2018

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ISLAMABAD: PTI chief and prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan’s dogs have managed to garner enough attention to get their own Wikipedia page.

The page titled ‘Pets of Imran Khan’ was added on August 6, days after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf secured a majority in Pakistan’s third consecutive civilian elections. Saquib, the Wikipedia volunteer who added the page said that the decision to add the page was taken after an increase in the searches for the dogs and references in primary and secondary sources such as newspaper, social media etc was noted.

Saquib said that there had been considerable media buzz about the Pakistani PM-designate’s pets, prompting Wikipedia to add the page. The employee also said that several US Presidents’ pets had Wikipedia accounts and there was no reason for Imran’s to not have one.

The page details Imran’s pet-history but fails to provide any information about the dogs such as breed details, weight, height, built, age, and even their current status. Imran’s dogs have made it to the headlines several times as the subjects of spats between Imran and his wives.

One of his dogs invited great social media attention after it appeared in the background of an image with Imran Khan and the Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Honardoost. The Iranian envoy had called upon Khan last week to discuss Pakistan’s trade ties with neighbouring countries, including Iran.

However, this development was not well-received by all.

Wikipedia had earlier faced flak for removing the pages of Bakhtawar and Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, claiming that ‘notability cannot be inherited’.

Speaking to Indian media outlet, News18, Saquib said, “Dogs fall into our general notability guidelines. But we have separate and independent subject-specific guidelines as well, like for politician, sportspeople, actors. Bakhtawar and Aseefa Bhutto both fail to meet our notability guidelines under the politician category.”

Saquib added that the page had to been locked for editing after alleged attempts of vandalism.