Within seconds of the 10am bomb blast in Quetta on August 8 social media had an explosion of its own—the ugly kind that assigns blame before investigators even reach the scene.
Condemnations poured in, as did grief and disbelief but this was followed by pointing fingers. Twitterati applied broad brushstrokes: to blame were the security forces, internal threats and extremists. However, as soon as Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri announced that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) was behind the attack, cyberspace detectives got the direction they needed.
Zehri’s statement was made to journalists in Quetta and the information was picked up and tweeted by Geo English, The Express Tribune, Dawn and SamaaTV’s Nadeem Malik who is followed by 1.09 million tweeple.
According to Tweetchup, a website that analyses up to 1,600 of the most recent tweets, the keywords #Quetta and #Raw popped up in 1,540 tweets from August 9 to 15. Tweets from about 1,258 users with the #Quetta, #RAW, #Quettablast keywords potentially reached around 6,904,897 people in and outside Pakistan. Tweets such as one from @Ali_MuhammadPTI on Aug9, “There shd b NO DOUBT that Quetta Carnage has been done by INDIAN RAW & anti PAK forces; Q is of TIMING & PLACE. Why 8th Aug”, were retweeted 77 times and liked by 221 people.
Farhan Khan Virk’s tweet on August 8, “#Quetta blast is not time to mourn. It is a time for action. Hang every single RAW agent. We will launch a full social media campaign”, was retweeted more than 144 times and liked by 198 people. Someone from across the border responded to his tweet and said “@FarhanKVirk better hang your so called good terrorists. You can’t escape by blaming RAW everytime.”
The conversation between the two twitter folks was brought to an end when @M_Umer_Ali interrupted the exchange and shared a YouTube clip ‘Indian Army RAW officer arrested in Balochistan’.
On August 15, #Quetta had been used 433 times, #Raw 156 and Indian 107, according to Tweetchup.
From August 13 to 15, #Quettablast was tweeted roughly 1,500 times by more than 1,251 users and reached an estimated 7.8 million people worldwide.
According to keyhole.co, a tweet by @Siasat.pk with the hashtag #QuettaBlast #RAW #Taliban #QuettaBleeds was retweeted 54 times. This was followed by Hussain Mehdi (@Mehdi4Justice) who got 37 retweets using hashtags such as #ASWJ #LEJ #ISIS.
Some people on Twitter also held former presidents and political parties responsible. These were followed by a critique of the federal government’s response. When the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) splinter group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar accepted responsibility for the attack, many people tweeted trying to figure out what was true and what was not. Needless to say, investigators are following these leads.
Condemnations poured in, as did grief and disbelief but this was followed by pointing fingers. Twitterati applied broad brushstrokes: to blame were the security forces, internal threats and extremists. However, as soon as Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri announced that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) was behind the attack, cyberspace detectives got the direction they needed.
Zehri’s statement was made to journalists in Quetta and the information was picked up and tweeted by Geo English, The Express Tribune, Dawn and SamaaTV’s Nadeem Malik who is followed by 1.09 million tweeple.
According to Tweetchup, a website that analyses up to 1,600 of the most recent tweets, the keywords #Quetta and #Raw popped up in 1,540 tweets from August 9 to 15. Tweets from about 1,258 users with the #Quetta, #RAW, #Quettablast keywords potentially reached around 6,904,897 people in and outside Pakistan. Tweets such as one from @Ali_MuhammadPTI on Aug9, “There shd b NO DOUBT that Quetta Carnage has been done by INDIAN RAW & anti PAK forces; Q is of TIMING & PLACE. Why 8th Aug”, were retweeted 77 times and liked by 221 people.
Farhan Khan Virk’s tweet on August 8, “#Quetta blast is not time to mourn. It is a time for action. Hang every single RAW agent. We will launch a full social media campaign”, was retweeted more than 144 times and liked by 198 people. Someone from across the border responded to his tweet and said “@FarhanKVirk better hang your so called good terrorists. You can’t escape by blaming RAW everytime.”
The conversation between the two twitter folks was brought to an end when @M_Umer_Ali interrupted the exchange and shared a YouTube clip ‘Indian Army RAW officer arrested in Balochistan’.
On August 15, #Quetta had been used 433 times, #Raw 156 and Indian 107, according to Tweetchup.
From August 13 to 15, #Quettablast was tweeted roughly 1,500 times by more than 1,251 users and reached an estimated 7.8 million people worldwide.
According to keyhole.co, a tweet by @Siasat.pk with the hashtag #QuettaBlast #RAW #Taliban #QuettaBleeds was retweeted 54 times. This was followed by Hussain Mehdi (@Mehdi4Justice) who got 37 retweets using hashtags such as #ASWJ #LEJ #ISIS.
Some people on Twitter also held former presidents and political parties responsible. These were followed by a critique of the federal government’s response. When the Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) splinter group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar accepted responsibility for the attack, many people tweeted trying to figure out what was true and what was not. Needless to say, investigators are following these leads.
– TFT