DG ISPR Asif Ghafoor and Marvi Sirmed Had A Twitter Row & We’re Going To Facepalm For The Rest Of The Day

By
Araiz Shahid
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Asif Ghafoor and Marvi Sirmed

As if Momina Mustehsan and Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari’s unnecessary exchange over the Ko Ko Korina debacle was not enough, Pakistani Twitter has made way for another unpleasant trade-off on social media. This time, it is DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor and famous Twitterati, Marvi Sirmed.

A few days ago, Sirmed, who is known for being a vocal critic of the current government as well as the military, posted a tweet in response to an image, according to which Taliban had set-up yet another checkpoint at the Torkham-Kabul route in Nangarhar.

Read: After PM Imran Khan, US Citizens Also Clap Back At Donald Trump’s Anti-Pakistan Tweets

Now, anyone with the slightest understanding of the words, “Kabul” and “Nangarhar” would have known that the checkpoints were in Afghanistan and not Pakistan.

However, it seems Marvi Sirmed was not among those who had an understanding of either of those words and so she quickly responded with a dig at the military by saying, “Taliban? I thought Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad had broken the spine of terrorists, as we’ve been told since last at least 3 years. How come they’re setting up illegal checkpoints undermining Pak security forces? That too, with broken spine!”

Yes…we know… 🤦

We’re entirely unsure about what Marvi was thinking when she wrote that and how could she make such a huge oversight but once she  realized her blunder, she was quick to delete the embarrassing tweet.

But as they say, nothing gets deleted from the internet – ever!

Major General Asif Ghafoor – who had famously warned internet users in Pakistan only a few months ago that his team was intercepting anti-Pakistan content in the cyber space – found (or was sent! We really don’t know!) a snapshot of Marvi’s deleted tweet and did not take it politely.

Read: Of Donald Trump, Twitter And The ‘Do More’ Mantra

Taking a jib at the netizen, DG ISPR posted the snapshot of the tweet and added, “Actually, @marvisirmed, Pakistan’s responsibility ends at Torkham. The checkpoint is reported to be in Nangarhar in Afghanistan. A little knowledge of Geography might help to reduce…”

God knows what the “….” meant but we’re sure we have no desire to find out!

Here’s the exchange between the two:

Oh, no…It’s Not Over Yet…

Marvi had a comeback, which read, “Ummm responding to a deleted tweet? Cute as always! The reason your staff sent you a screenshot and not the link to this tweet was, that I had deleted it in less than a minute. Why? Coz i realised it wasn’t about Pakistan, but about Ningarhar. Next time you should ask for link ;)”

Now, the point(s) that we’re trying to make by walking you through this morbidly witless exchange between two middle-aged, high profile people are these: 👇

There is a reason why mama keeps insisting that personal interaction is better than talking virtually

We dearly wish DG ISPR and Sirmed would just sit across the table and let out years of resentment over a cup of tea instead of being on the look-out to ridicule each other on the internet!

Momina Mustehsan and Uncle Ben were RIGHT all along: With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility

Mustehsan might have gotten Ko Ko Korina all wrong but she was right about the whole Spiderman reference!

Both Asif Ghafoor and Marvi Sirmed are people of power and their words influence hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis. Marvi Sirmed, by taking a deep breath before launching on a Twitter tirade against the military and Asif Ghafoor, by counting till – at least – 100 before he writes an unpleasant tweet to a fellow Pakistani can together save a lot of young minds from unnerving polarization and teach them instead to be (above anything else) objective, respectful and tolerant of differences.

People Above 45 Should Not Be Allowed to Use Twitter Without Millennial Supervision

I mean I have a lot of respect for elder folks but they really don’t know how to throw shade at each other without being very obviously offensive.

I mean when Sadaf Kanwal made a really stupid remark about the #MeToo movement, Meesha Shafi didn’t tag her in a tweet and tell her that she was a bimbo! Instead, she sent out this tweet and everyone knew that it was a dig at Kanwal:

See! Subtle and graceful!

When people of importance start bickering on Twitter, the focus of the discussion for unimportant people like me shifts from the issue at hand to their war of words…

The ISSUE here is that nearly two decades after the war in Afghanistan, Taliban continue to enjoy control over a significant part of its territory, making life miserable and uncertain for average people who, after living under the shadow of death and destruction for the greater part of their lives deserve better.

The ISSUE is that we’re so immune to seeing war and annihilation that while reading through this article hardly anyone took a moment to reflect on the terror that Afghan commuters must feel each time their car is stopped at a checkpoint by militants.

The ISSUE is that we’ve become so incredibly engrossed in our need to be right, that we’ve forgotten how it feels to be forgiving.

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