Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif found himself at the centre of a social media storm after he reportedly responded to a Marilyn Monroe picture puzzle on X, correctly spotting a modern smartwatch in a scene set in 1956. What began as a harmless late-night reply quickly turned into a flood of mockery, with critics questioning the minister’s priorities even after reports emerged that he had deleted the post.
What did Khawaja Asif post about Marilyn Monroe?
The online exchange took place on Tuesday, when an X user posted an AI-generated 1950s photo of Marilyn Monroe outside a hotel. The post asked users to spot the one item that didn’t belong in 1956, a modern smartwatch on her wrist.
Pakistan’s 77-year-old Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, reposted it at 11:04 PM with a single word and an emoji: “Watch”. Reports say he later deleted the post after facing severe backlash, though screenshots continue to circulate.
Why did the defence minister’s reply attract criticism?
The response became a target for jokes about how senior politicians use social media. Several users questioned why Pakistan’s defence minister was engaging with a light-hearted puzzle at a time when the country was facing political unrest, economic difficulties and security concerns.
The backlash was not unanimous. Users pointed out that Asif had simply identified the modern accessory in the picture. His response was short, accurate and consistent with the question posed in the original post. The criticism centred on whether such an exchange was appropriate for a public official, rather than on any factual error.
Deleting the tweet didn’t stop the internet from laughing
Even after the post was removed, screenshots and memes continued to flood social media, triggering hundreds of mocking comments.
The awkward moment points to a bigger lesson for politicians in the era of AI: even a quick, harmless reply to a fake photo can instantly spiral into a major political distraction. Khawaja Asif may have solved the puzzle, but he accidentally created a brand-new headache for himself.
Another AI episode involved Khawaja Asif in August
The episode comes less than two months after Pakistan’s Information Ministry rejected a separate viral video that appeared to show Asif making remarks comparing Pakistan’s progress with India’s. In August, the ministry said the clip’s audio had been generated using artificial intelligence and that the defence minister had made no such statement, according to Dawn.
That incident was different, as it involved a fabricated claim attributed to Asif, whereas the Monroe puzzle was an apparently synthetic image to which he reportedly chose to respond. In the latest case, the controversy concerned the minister’s own alleged social media activity rather than a statement falsely attributed to him.
The reported deletion did not end the jokes. Copies of the reply and reactions were still appearing in news reports on Thursday, two days after the original exchange.
