Pakistan Army removes ISPR spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor

Embarrassed by the frequent Twitter spats and gaffes of Director General, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor, the Pakistan Army on Thursday (January 16) decided to replace him with Major General Babar Iftikhar.

Sources said that Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was unhappy with Ghafoor's social media gaffes and this forced him to remove Ghafoor from the post of Director General, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR). Ghafoor has been appointed GOC of 40 Division Okara.

It is to be noted that Ghafoor has been replaced just a couple of days after he posted a doctored video of war hero and retired Indian Air Force Air Marshal Denzil Keelor. Ghafoor publicly accepted his fault and said the Keelor clip posted by him on social media was doctored.

In another twitter spat, Ghafoor targeted a Pakistani journalist named Sana Bucha and his his tweet, "Should an already butchered be butchered again?" drew lot of criticism from journalists as well as ordinary Pakistanis. He was even accused of posting comments in an inebriated state.

According to the ISPR website, Major Ghafoor was commissioned into the Pakistan Army in 1988 and he holds a master's degree in strategic studies. He was appointed the director general of ISPR in December 2016.