Foreign Secretary Locks X Account After Vicious Social Media Abuse Blaming Him for Ceasefire

New Delhi: Foreign secretary Vikram Misri locked his X account on Sunday (May 11) after he was viciously trolled on social media for yesterday’s ceasefire announced between India and Pakistan. No one from the Union government, including external affairs minister S. Jaishankar, has yet condemned the trolling or come out in his support.

The ceasefire was announced following a tense four-day military standoff with Pakistan.

Misri’s move came after right-wing X accounts called him a “traitor” and blamed him for India’s ceasefire with Pakistan, dug out old posts that he had shared of his family, and targeted his daughter for studying abroad and providing legal aid to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

Misri as foreign secretary helmed the Ministry of External Affairs’s briefings during the four-day military conflict with Pakistan following the launch of Operation Sindoor.

On May 7, India announced that it had launched Operation Sindoor with missile strikes on nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

After four days of a tense military standoff including drone and missile strikes, the decision of a ceasefire was also announced by Misri on Saturday evening.

The Wire had earlier reported that Misri had been the face of the measured statements made by the government during the conflict, including his statement that “criticising the government is the hallmark of democracy” while BJP and right-wing handles differed.

While the BJP through its official X handle had claimed that Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Abdul Rauf Azhar had been killed in India’s strikes, Misri said that there is “no information at this point”.

Hours after the ceasefire was announced, right-wing accounts targeted Misri for climbing down with the ceasefire.

X users viciously troll Misri.

Social media accounts found an old photograph that he had posted with his wife and daughter and posted a barrage of comments calling Misri a “traitor” for “offering” his “head to Pakistan”.

These accounts also accused him of “throwing away India’s military advantage” by agreeing to the ceasefire. They also abused him for having his daughter settle abroad while “prostrating” to Pakistan.

The accounts did not spare Misri’s daughter in finding her profile as a student when she had worked with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Myanmar and accused her of providing legal aid to Rohingya Muslims.

An X user fulminates against Misri's daughter.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul MP Asaduddin Owaisi said that bureaucrats work under the executive and should not be blamed for any decision taken by the executive or the political leadership of the country.

“Mr Vikram Misri is a decent and an Honest Hard working Diplomat working tirelessly for our Nation. Our Civil Servants work under the Executive this must be remembered & they shouldn’t be blamed for the decisions taken by The Executive /or any Political leadership running Watan E Aziz,” he said.

In a statement, the Congress’s Kerala unit said that just like Pahalgam victim Lieutenant Vinay Narwal’s wife Himanshi was trolled for advocating for peace and not hate, Misri is being abused as the BJP is “grappling with its own Frankenstein”.

“Last week, Modi bhakts launched a vicious character assassination campaign against Ms Himanshi Narwal, the widow of a soldier and officer, simply because she appealed for ‘no hate, no violence’. Now, they're targeting Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, as though he unilaterally decided on the ceasefire, not Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh or Jaishankar.

“These Modi bhakts can’t bring themselves to hold their ‘God’ accountable, so they lash out at everyone else instead. Modi is now grappling with the Frankenstein's monster he created in the form of the IT Cell, and it will turn on him very soon.”

People’s Democratic Party spokesperson Mohit Bhan said that Misri’s targeting shows that calling hate “nationalism is the biggest lie of our time”.

“The abuse towards Vikram Misri & his daughter is an eye-opener. Calling this hate ‘Nationalism’ is the biggest lie of our time. For a decade, patriots, soldiers, scholars, diplomats have been attacked for rejecting bloodlust. Right Wing hate engine is India’s real threat & this rot must end before it ends us,” he said.

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