Drop some le ers and drop your job

Islamabad – Pakistan has removed the acting chief of state-run television after a caption read “Begging” instead “Beijing” during a broadcast of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to China, which has promised economic aid to the impoverished South Asian country.

Khan was in Beijing seeking financial aid to help end a spiralling balance of payments crisis after securing $6 billion (R84 billion) in support from Saudi Arabia and before Pakistan sat down to talks with the IMF.

An official ministry of information order said the ministry had withdrawn the services of Hasan Immad Mohammadi, who had served as acting managing director of Pakistan television for only weeks.

PTV apologised after “Begging” ran on screens for 20-25 seconds on Monday, while Khan was making a speech, kicking off a debate on social media as to whether the misspelling was deliberate.

Khan has criticised Pakistan’s international bailouts and decried previous leaders as roaming the world with a begging bowl.