Some retired Indian soldiers are certain Pakistan Army soldiers are dying in the Panjshir Valley front, left and centre but their only reliable news source on the matter seems to be Twitter. And we all know how reliable Twitter is.
What happened?
What started off as nationalist propaganda started by former Indian army officer Major Gen GD Bakshi against an alleged attack on the Pakistan Army in Panjshir Valley, already, took a hilarious turn when another retired officer, Major General Harsha Kakar retweeted what seems to be a troll on Bakshi’s original post.
Pak Army (SSG)has suffered very hy cas in Panjshir. killed – 07 officers, 12 JCOs ,75 OR &wounded 05offrs ,09 JCOs 160 OR. peshawar, swat and Quetta MHs overflowing.Maj Gen Adil Rehmani has come back to organise discreet funerals in dead of Night- like in kargil. like thieves
— Maj Gen (Dr)GD Bakshi SM,VSM(retd) (@GeneralBakshi) September 10, 2021
Completely unaware of the facts and the nature of the tweet, Kakar responded with the following:
This is the truth on #PanjshirValley and Pak casualties. As expected @YusufMoeed lied and Pak disowned its dead. This shameful nation with a shameful leadership refuses to honour its dead. Instead buries them at night to avoid publicity. Nothing can be more degrading for soldiers pic.twitter.com/OlANAWJ0a5
— Maj Gen Harsha Kakar (@kakar_harsha) September 11, 2021
The picture is from the sets of Pakistani action thriller Waar released in 2013 and features actors Shaan Shahid and Umair Jaswal. The two actors became “casualties” in the Indian officers’ tweets.
The tweet quickly blew up as Twitterati from Pakistan came to the rescue with hysterical responses including responses from the actors themselves.
Shaan’s quirky response had us laughing all weekend.
— Shaan Shahid (@mshaanshahid) September 11, 2021
This soldier seemed to have caught more attention than others as an Afghan journalist, Noor Quraishi, shared his picture on Twitter. He was later told, however, that it was actually a picture of Aamir Liaquat from a promotional video. Guess Liaquat is a pretty good actor.
د پاکستاني کمانډوانو لومړنی خوندیتوب کرنل عادل په پنجشیرکی د جګړې پرمهال مړ شو pic.twitter.com/DGRXwF6WrU
— Noor Quraishi (@noor_quraishii) September 6, 2021
Pak-India banter will probably never get old but we’d just like to remind our readers that there’s a fine line between humour and insensitivity. Our celebrities tend to have a light-hearted approach when it comes to trolling haters and dealing with fake news but let’s not get too carried away. And remember everyone: don’t believe everything you read on social media!
