RASHMI TALWAR
AMRITSAR, MAY 10: Videos of a rushing man, pressing a peacock under his arm; two other people holding the rare white peacock one each, and scenes of an ancient cannon being dragged by a group of Pakistan public through a Pak street, carrying off pigeons and eggs in a video, took the Twitterati by storm today. The video showed a break-in at Core Commander’s/GoC 4-Corps Lt Gen Salman Fayyaz Ghani of Pakistan Army, house that flashed on Twitter all day. When one of the peacock thieves was questioned, he asserted that the (Pak) army had fleeced its public, so justifiably all of this loot and more belongs to us- the Pak Awam!”.
There were more videos of people making off with loot from the GoC s house, picking out pigeons, caught with cooked korma, strawberries, cooked lady finger, a bottle of tomato ketchup, and a large bottle of Coca-Cola, from the vandalized area.
The turn of events after the surreptitious whisking away of the former PM and Pakistan Cricket Team’s most popular Captain Imran Khan (IK), sent the Pak public into a frenzy, on the roads, triggering the Twitterati chatter big time.
Hashtag #PakCivilWar ruled Twitter, emerging from this neck of South Asia where events in Pakistan had a major fallout in borderlines nations, more so in India, Tehreen Akhtar of CNN News tweeted that IK’s arrest has created a civil war-like situation in Pakistan.
So as the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and Indian defense intensified the security along the International border (IB) with Pakistan along the J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat borders, Pakistan watchers keenly followed the unfolding of events of near-anarchy in the economically battered neighbouring Pakistan.
Just as one watched the Twitterati reveal that about 250 supporters of IK were arrested, Asad Umar former minister in IK’s government was arrested; a video of a man appeared singing –“Woh dekho 75 saal ka Janaza ja raha hai ..” (See the 75-year-old corpse is on its journey to the graveyard!) threw in a Shakespearean drama character of a poet predicting the future, often seen in theatre performances of the Victorian era, seemed so ironic and befitting.
Ghulam Akhbar of News Channel ‘Bol Network’ tweeted –“All roads to ‘Jatti Umra’ the residence of (former Pak PM and present PM Shahbaz Sharif’s elder brother) -Nawaz Sharif, are sealed by containers parked there”. The Pak public is up in arms against the present incumbency of the ruling Sharif family along with the Pak army that allegedly seemed to have abducted IK. Interestingly Jatti Umra is the ancestral village of the Sharif family in the Indian side of Punjab about 25 Kms from Amritsar after which the name of the village was used to name the official residence of the former Pak PM
A young dupatta-covered girl in a video floated in a car-“ Talking to the camera on twitter –she addressed IK “Why have you worked so hard to civilize this country – “for whom a sack of wheat is enough to survive, they are animals! And we deserve these people because this is a country that survives on alms..” and went on use abusive words for the vandalizing public. The video garnered 35000 views and 83000 shares.
Fakhar Yousafsai , Journalist with Khyber news tweeted about the motorway Toll plaza of Swat, allegedly being set ablaze, another tweet where a video showed people freely entering in hordes the gateway of Peshawar Cantonment. Ruksanna Jabeen a Mass Comm graduate wrote-“5-PTI workers are martyred by protectors of Pakistan!”
“(Situation is ) Fragile and precariously poised. Tensions are mounting. Army has been deployed in two provinces— Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The same army has been taking the flak and thrashing from the people since yesterday,” termed Senior Producer, SAMAA News, Islamabad, Zeeshan Saddique, in a tweet.
Meantime, the media wing of the Pak army issued a strongly worded presser, and expert watchers assess it as – “A complete showdown between PTI and Army!” (A copy of of the note is with the writer)
Murtaza Solangi, a former DG of Radio Pakistan, talking to this writer termed the violent protests in Pakistan as –“Very sporadic, no huge involvement of Public, only activists. The sporadic and organic protests will continue but it can’t turn the tide. This would mean Imran would most probably remain under arrest? Yes. Because of the impending multiple cases. Proven or unproven, the government has too many legal instruments to keep IK in custody for a few months.” Solangi negated the rumour of arrest which had caused a huge uproar in Pakistan, of Shah Mahmood Qureshi former Foreign Minister in IK govt, and said “SMQ is not arrested!” Querishi was seen in a video protesting the arrest of IK -” Captan, was injured and bleeding from the head &how he was lashed with sticks on his injured leg. This is against humanity! he boomed.
“Osint Updates” an open source with 32000 followers, broke the news on Twitter “While violence and arson are taking place in Pakistan, the COAS of Pakistan Asim Munir has reached Qatar”. Another tweet displayed a video proof, headlined -“A section of Pakistan army openly came in support of IK soldiers clashed with each other.”
Indians as rivals too trolled Pakistan’s violent conditions and re-tweeted videos. One by Jamal Baloch showed a PTI protestor from Imran Khan’s party calling the Pakistan Army chief -a dog!
What stood out was an old tweet by Kumar Vishwas, the famous Indian poet-politician, who is seen to regale his audience in a video saying- “Who knows, at 8 0clock in the evening (using a pun of the fateful 8th November 2016, the day of sudden demonetization in India) the two ministers would suddenly throw a bombshell that past midnight tonight the New Delhi NCR’s borders would include the city of Lahore”, to much guffaws from the spectators.
The enormity of evolving events in Pakistan was upheld and expressed by Jeremy Corbyn Member of Parliament UK, who wrote “The arrest of former PM of Pakistan is a dark day for democracy. Solidarity with protestors in Pakistan and beyond, demanding his immediate release.”