The brutal rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab Ansari triggered massive protests across Pakistan. While many took to social media condemning the act and fearing for the safety of their future generations, it is the tweets by Fasih Ahmed, the editor of Newsweek Pakistan, that has jolted people.

Ahmed tweeted on January 23 that the sexual abuse of children cannot be eliminated and at times even pave way for ‘great art’ to happen. Expectantly, his tweet garnered criticism on social media, following which he deleted the tweet. But screenshots of his tweet flooded the Internet, especially Twitter.

He, however, did not delete the two other tweets he had posted on the same day, it read, reports the Indian Express.

‘Child sexual abuse has always happened, is happening, and will always continue. Two days of outrage on Twitter and participating in a 10-person vigil may make you feel so noble but that’s all just about you, not those who’ve been victimized’. Following this, he issued a disclaimer saying ‘My account has not been hacked. Relax’.

Additionally, another tweet where he ‘explains’ rape has gone viral too, in spite of his deleting it. ‘‘Rape by, say, Obama is rape. Rape by, say, Tom Cruise is everyone’s dream come true. All subjective’ reads the tweet.

Here are some of the many responses that his post generated on the micro-blogging site.

Ahmed, however, addressed the criticism in what seemed like a complete U-turn from his ‘it could sometimes pave way for great art’ comment.

‘My tweets of yesterday were coming from anger, were poorly phrased, and misread. I’m sorry to have upset the people who have survived child abuse. I have been angry at the conspiracy of silence around this evil. #MeToo #StopChildAbuse’.