Chat app ban: Bilawal tweets, Twitterati respond
In an attack on the country’s ‘liberal elite’, referred to pejoratively as ‘burger’, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (@BBhuttoZardari) has defended the PPP’s decision to block all messaging and VoIP networks for the next three months.
Bilawal took to Twitter to express his views, initially stating that he would ‘rather lose an app than another life’, an ironic statement considering that he currently resides in Dubai where he will not lose any services or be exposed to militant threats at the level faced by ordinary residents in Karachi.
A barrage of tweets from Pakistan’s Twitterati ensued. Journalist Cyril Almeida (@cyralm) reflected on why the government could not simply use these apps to garner intelligence on terrorist activities as opposed to an outright ban. In a more sarcastic vein, social activist Abdullah Saad (@kursed) asked the PPP co-chairman if such methods were actually successful why had governments around the world not adopted them to deal with their own internal security threats. Comedian Sami Shah (@samishah) highlighted how Jinnah fit the definition of a ‘burger’ by being educated in the West. “Jinnah was a burger. Let us never forget that. Burgers build nations. Bun kebabs whine about it,” he said.
Clearly riled by these statements, Bilawal asked his audience to stop complaining. “Dear Burgers,” he wrote, addressing his Twitterati following. “Sorry about Skype/Viber/Whatsapp. Excuse us while we catch some terrorists and save some lives. SMS for 3 months. Sincerely BBZ.”