PAKISTANIS have by now gained something of an international reputation for their gallows humour, but it seems that Islamabad Police never received the memo. They arrested a citizen on what appear to be fairly serious charges over what, prima facie, seems to have been a dry remark likening the Tarnol Railway Crossing in the federal capital to the still-besieged Strait of Hormuz. Perhaps irked by a traffic hold-up due to a passing train, the citizen reportedly posted on social media that “Tarnol Railway Crossing is no less than the Strait of Hormuz. If it is closed, all our problems will be resolved”. He was perhaps hoping that others, too, would find humour in his situation. Islamabad Police, however, took a rather dim view, nabbing him after a manhunt and charging the man with disobeying an official order, attempting “wrongful restraint” and “attempting a crime punishable with life imprisonment or less”. The first information report described the remark as a violation of the restrictions imposed on the capital.

Islamabad Police seem to be on edge. The stringent security protocols currently blanketing the capital for visiting dignitaries have undoubtedly made the force’s job more taxing. However, this cannot justify the state’s inability to distinguish between a security threat and a sarcastic tweet. Unless it can be proved beyond doubt that this individual posed an imminent danger, they deserve an apology for such senseless and harsh treatment. Many Pakistanis have found the Hormuz crisis a goldmine for their dark humour, from some using it as an allegory for their domestic disputes to others joking about whether the strait will open before Karachi’s beleaguered University Road bus rapid transit project. If Islamabad Police wish to be seen as a sophisticated law-enforcement agency, its top officials must intervene. This case must be dismissed, if only to prove that the state still possesses a sense of reality, if not a sense of humour.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2026