Dawn Images

It seems like Prime Minister Imran Khan (and his team) doesn't know the first rule of social media — don't post things that will get you in trouble.

Our premier seems to subscribe to the age-old adage of 'do as I say, not as I do'. But this isn't the 50s and people won't ignore things they see, especially when what they see is a picture of the prime minister — who tested positive for Covid-19 five days ago — in a room with at least six other people.

In one of the greatest miscalculations we have seen in a while, Information Minister Shibli Faraz decided to let the nation in on a stunning piece of information — the government doesn't practice what it preaches.

In a single photo, the information minister, but more importantly the prime minister, has managed to set Pakistan's anti-virus efforts back considerably. Convincing people to stay at home and quarantine when they have the virus has already proven to be a mammoth task and it will now be even more difficult given that Pakistanis have irrefutable proof that the prime minister of Pakistan doesn't follow the government's edicts.

The government wants people to wear masks. It wants them not to meet others indoors. It wants people who have Covid to isolate. That's what the NCOC keeps stressing, and so do the government ministers. Good luck getting people to follow protocol when the high officials themselves cannot do the same.

Having ministers from the prime minister's party patting him on the back for flouting his own government's rules isn't helping either.

You might argue that they're all wearing masks, but that just doesn't cut it. This has been a year of adapting to working from home. The world discovered a wonderful thing called Zoom. If our government doesn't know how it works, we're happy to explain: you sit at home, like a responsible adult, and talk to other responsible adults sitting in their homes via video call. We're sure the Government of Pakistan can afford to pay for a laptop and internet connection.

Wearing a mask reduces the chance of spreading Covid but using Zoom kills those chances entirely. If only our esteemed government officials could understand that (calling Asad Umar).

To say people aren't pleased with the picture would be an understatement. We can't include tweets using expletives for obvious reasons but suffice to say, people aren't happy.

Here are some PG reactions to The Picture™.

Jokes aside, people are really angry, and rightfully so.

To the government and our prime minister , we say — and we have said this before after the lack of masks witnessed during the Senate elections — lead with example. And if you can't, the least you can do is the bare minimum: don't flout the rules YOU endorse and then post it on social media.