Daily Times

The country’s vibrant social media remained abuzz with protests during Eid holidays,particularly highlighting the suffering of people of Parachinar, capital of Kurram Agency, where two back-to-back blasts had claimed at least 72 lives ahead of Eid.

Social media activism took steam in the wake of a self-imposed ban on coverage of Parachinar protest by the country’s electronic media.

#Parachinar trended on Twitter on Wednesday as social media users and civil society activits condemned what has widely been perceived as unequal treatment of victims of Parachinar and Quetta blasts,compared to those who suffered in the Bahawalpur tragedy.

Interior Minister ChaudhryNisar was criticised for making light of the protesters’ hardship when he issued a warning to those ‘breeding sectarianism on social media’.

Meanwhile, actions of the political and military higher ups only damaged their cause.Activists noted that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had been quick to cut short his London trip to visit Bahawalpur following the oil tanker fire accident. He has yet to schedule a visit to Quetta and Parachinar. Similarly, Chief of the Army Staff drew the ire of activists and concerned citizens after his visit to Parachinar was cancelled on the last minute due to ‘weather conditions’.

Muhammad Yousaf, a leader of HusainiyyaTehrik in Kurram Agency, told Daily Times that there wasn’t anything exceptional about weather in the Agency. “It gets rainy making it difficult to commute during night time. Day time weather is fine,” he said.

Yousaf is among those organising a demonstration in Parachinar that entered its seventh day on Thursday.

While another activist told DT that it would be unfair to blame the military entirely because the federal government and especially the prime minister had failed to take a clear stance on Parachinar killings.

Things got further heated up on Wednesday as an ISPR statement labelled activism for Parachinar as sectarian in nature and blamed enemies for instigating that. Protesters on social media challenged the statement and urged the authorities concerned to treat Shia killings across the country in their proper historical context.

More worrying were the fears expressed by several notable social media users that activism over Parachinar may turn into another excuse for curbing digital media freedoms. Journalist Abbas Nasir tweeted, “From the tone, tenor of the ISPR statement, I foresee serious threats to media freedoms. Traditional, social media both to come under pressure.”

Published in Daily Times, June 29th, 2017.