Pakistan and China, according to pakistantoday.com.pk, have decided to start a think tank for the benefit of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, called ‘Research and Development International’.
And while the name of this think tank is seemingly harmless, it is the acronym that takes the cake. ‘Research and Development International’ has the short form ‘RANDI’ which is also a very crude Hindi word for ‘prostitute’.
It is a little surprising that no one in Pakistan raised any kind of objections to such an amazingly bad acronym; what was not surprising at all, was the fact that Twitter had a field day with this piece of information.
‘Research and Development International’, according to the article, will have two co-chairpersons; Madame Zhao Baige, former minister and currently member of parliament and vice chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Senator Mushahid Hussain.
The Pakistan secretariat of the new joint think tank would be located at the Pakistan-China Institute in Islamabad, while its China secretariat would be co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the China Institute of Reform & Development.