New Delhi: Imran Khan is not just front-page news in Pakistan. He is also a wedding gift. No, he has not walked out of the prison yet.
A video doing the rounds on social media shows a Pakistani couple unveiling a portrait of the jailed PTI leader during their wedding festivities. The groom is seen unpackaging the ‘gift’ on stage, which he presents to his beaming bride. As soon as the gift is revealed, the gathering bursts into claps and laughter. Pakistanis can’t stop talking about this growing trend of the former PM ‘appearing’ at weddings.
The video posted by a Pakistani was captioned, “Becoming a common occurrence now. How long before they put a ban on this?”
Hinting at the prevailing intolerance toward Khan and his supporters, a Pakistani sought clarification on whether he wanted marriages to be banned. “You mean a ban on shaadis? This country really needs that.”
In an apparent reference to the threat Khan is perceived to be within the establishment, a user said, “Can’t wait for weddings to be declared as “national security concern” too”.
Amid the ‘me and who’ and ‘this or nothing’ posts, India also made a cameo when a Pakistani user compared Khan’s following in Pakistan to Modi’s following in India, adding that both leaders have a cult following. Another said that this post should be hidden from Modi fans.
Also read: Pakistanis have moved on from World Cup. Obsessing over Imran Khan’s marriage again
A fan favourite
Pakistanis had a field day analysing the wedding and the gift.
One user had a fair concern—what if the groom had gone missing after this video? While another asked, “Why would you gift a picture of another man to your wife at your wedding?”
It soon led to a competition, with one Pakistani sharing how he received an Imran Khan poster on his wedding day too. Nationality no bar, even Ethiopians joined the conversation. One user thanked her husband for not presenting her the PM’s picture on her wedding day.
However, not everyone was impressed. If appreciation was abundant, the criticism was savage too. One X user called it a TikTok mental illness while another user called it “chichorepan ki limits”, the limits of crassness.
“Imagine using a con artist politician’s picture for attention on your wedding day. Tik tok mental illness,” the user wrote.
Yet another was worried about the future of the nation and prophesied how the day was not far when Pakistanis might consummate their marriages wearing Imran Khan masks.
All this while Khan remains lodged in jail unable to save his wife from alleged murder attempts.
But he remains a fan favourite. As a user wrote, “Pakistanis fanaticism for this man is indescribable. I was at a wedding once and they put an Imran Khan edit on the big screen and then waved a banner of him and a lion next to each other.”
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)