Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's late-night attempt at digital diplomacy turned into a comedy of errors when his post on X about Middle East peace efforts went viral, not for its content, but for the word "Draft" left at the top.
Sharif, who has been positioning himself as a mediator in the conflict, initially published: "Draft - Pakistan's PM Message on X" before launching into a grand appeal for a two-week ceasefire, tagging everyone from Donald Trump to Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian. The plea urged Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and all sides to halt fire "everywhere."
But eagle-eyed users quickly noticed the blunder. The edit history revealed Sharif had apparently copy-pasted the entire message, including the "Draft" label prompting speculation that the text wasn't penned by his staff at all, but perhaps handed down by foreign partners.
American journalist Ryan Grim quipped that Sharif's own aides would never call him "Pakistan's PM," but the US or Israel certainly would. The gaffe has since become meme material, with users joking that Pakistan's foreign policy now comes with track-changes.