New Delhi: Retired Major General Harsha Kakar has found himself in the middle of a controversy on Pakistani Twitter after he shared a tweet that misidentified Pakistani actors as soldiers who were allegedly killed in Afghanistan’s Panjshir.
It all started with a tweet by Major General (retd) G.D. Bakshi on 10 September, in which he claimed that the Pakistani Army had suffered high casualty in Panjshir and several Special Service Group officers had been injured. The claims have not been officially confirmed.
Pak Army (SSG)has suffered very hy cas in Panjshir. killed – 07 officers, 12 JCOs ,75 OR &wounded 05offrs ,09 JCOs 160 OR. peshawar, swat and Quetta MHs overflowing.Maj Gen Adil Rehmani has come back to organise discreet funerals in dead of Night- like in kargil. like thieves
— Maj Gen (Dr)GD Bakshi SM,VSM(retd) (@GeneralBakshi) September 10, 2021
A Twitter user named ‘Disgruntled Doc’ responded to Bakshi’s tweet, in what seems to be a dig at the Army general, with an image from a 2017 Pakistani film, Yalgaar.
The photograph features actors Shaan Shahid and Umair Jaswal in the Pakistani Army uniform and the accompanying tweet reads: “My class fellow from school days Maj Aijaj 2nd from left and Capt Jufar 1st from left embraced martyrdom in Panjshir. They were buried yesterday in Peshawar. ISPR is trying to hide these casualties. They fought bravely and should be honoured as such. This is injustice by Pak Army.”
My class fellow from school days Maj Aijaj 2nd from left and Capt Jufar 1st from left embraced martyrdom in Panjshir. They were buried yesterday in Peshawar. ISPR is trying to hide these casualties. They fought bravely and should be honoured as such. This is injustice by Pak Army pic.twitter.com/sOx16xpAol
— Disgruntled Doc (@Fauji_Doctor) September 10, 2021
Kakar then posted a screenshot of this tweet on 11 September and called out the “shameful leadership” of Pakistan for not honouring its dead.
This is the truth on #PanjshirValley and Pak casualties. As expected @YusufMoeed lied and Pak disowned its dead. This shameful nation with a shameful leadership refuses to honour its dead. Instead buries them at night to avoid publicity. Nothing can be more degrading for soldiers pic.twitter.com/OlANAWJ0a5
— Maj Gen Harsha Kakar (@kakar_harsha) September 11, 2021
The tweet has been liked and retweeted more than 300 times and most of the replies are from Pakistani users taking a dig at the Army general.
Pakistanis poke fun at Kakkar
Taking the original tweet by ‘Disgruntled Doc’ as frame, several Pakistani users posted similar tweets in reply to Kakar’s tweet. This included the two actors, Umair Jaiswal and Shaan Shahid, featured in the photograph.
Hello dear ? @GeneralBakshi @dpkpillay12
From Pakistan ❤ pic.twitter.com/Vvl5TItQBv— Umair Jaswal (@umairjaswal) September 11, 2021
— Shaan Shahid (@mshaanshahid) September 11, 2021
Several other users also mocked the general with spoof tweets.
Captain Saad was my classmate in college, his wife is also a doctor in Army. He got martyred in Panjshir but Army is showing his death as a car accident. He deserves better than this for sacrificing his life for Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/5r1SGtpKFE
— Rizwan (@Rizwow) September 11, 2021
According to sources this team was responsible for Maj. Aijaj's martyrdom. pic.twitter.com/AubVHRm0Uf
— Ahmad?? (@thepakman11) September 11, 2021
With Taliban taking over Panjshir valley, the last area that was not under its control in Afghanistan, a large volume of fake news surrounding Pakistan’s alleged support to the Taliban have surfaced.
Earlier, TV channels played a recording of a video game and claimed the footage was from Panjshir.
Another video claimed to show a Pakistani plane shot down by resistance fighters in Panjshir but was actually a 2018 video from the US.
Also read: Taliban ‘conundrum’ is forcing geopolitical rivals to align interests in Afghanistan