Pakistan military gets social media boost after India flare up

ISLAMABAD – The brief conflict between India and Pakistan last week may have left no clear victor, but Islamabad’s generals are taking a win, riding a wave of approval on social media to burnish their recently tarnished image.

Much of the praise for the military, which has faced increasing criticism over its involvement in politics, has been driven by young people online, with nearly two-thirds of Pakistan’s 240 million people younger than 30.

The last major conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals was in 1999 and confined to the disputed region of Kashmir, so young Pakistanis have been more accustomed to seeing the neighbouring countries clash on the cricket pitch, said digital rights activist Nighat Dad.

But from the start of Indian strikes on May 7, “for the first time, they were able to listen to the shots, the blasts, the drone strikes, and they witnessed drones flying over their very own houses” in major cities, including the capital, she said.

She said it sparked “an emotionally charged sentiment that someone who is our neighbour, who has been blaming us for terrorist attacks in their country for decades, attacks us”.

New Delhi launched strikes after accusing Pakistan of backing a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April, a charge repeatedly denied by Islamabad.

‘Cooked Bollywood’

By retaliating, Pakistan’s “army cooked Bollywood in front of the whole world”, joked one social media user, claiming the military exploits outshone Indian blockbusters.

“Even Indians would fall for (our) generals,” another said, with social media flooded with images of romanticised soldiers and pilots surrounded by hearts.

The social network X had been blocked in Pakistan for over a year before coming back online just as hostilities flared, with the army praising the efforts of young “cyber and information warriors”.

The platform went down in Pakistan