In an utterly embarrassing gaffe, Miss Pakistan Natasha Paracha used the word ‘condone’ instead of ‘condemn’ to express her reaction to the recent Mumbai terror attacks.
The reining beauty queen, who is a graduate from Berkley, used the word ‘condone’ not once but twice in an interview to CNN earlier this week.
"The image of Pakistan has been threatened with these recent attacks and I feel that now as Pakistanis we have to stand up and condone what has happened in the country of India and through these Mumbai attacks," Natasha told CNN’s Anna Coren.
Natasha’s use of word ‘condone’ cannot be deemed as a slip of tongue because she used it again, and very clearly at that, while answering the very next question.
"As an ambassador to my country Pakistan I feel that we as Pakistanis need to work together and Indians as well need to work and work on this friendship that we have and condone these attacks, thoroughly.”
Incidentally, it is Pakistani bloggers who are now poking fun at Miss Natasha for the shocking gaffe.
One blogger Kamil Yousuf, who has posted an entry titled "Dear Miss Pakistan World, the word is ’condemn’, not ’condone’", goes on to express his utter shock at Natasha’s remarks.
"I was actually quite surprised on both counts, if you were going to appear on CNN wearing a Miss Pakistan sash, in order to give a statement on behalf of your country in the midst of a political crisis, you would take the time to learn the difference between two fairly critical antonyms. You went to Berkeley, for God’s sake," he wrote.
May be it was a Freudian slip on Natasha’s part.
