‘Jung karni hai to…’: How Pakistanis are trolling themselves on social media | World News

After the Pahalgam bloodbath—the place terrorists from Pakistan crossed the border and executed 26 folks in chilly blood—the same old geopolitical script started to unfold. India condemned, Pakistan denied, and the West reached for its thesaurus of euphemisms: “gunmen,” “militants,” “insurgents.” But one thing uncommon occurred this time. The sharpest rebuke didn’t come from New Delhi or Washington. It got here from inside Pakistan itself.
Not from TV anchors or ministers. But from on a regular basis Pakistanis—with Wi-Fi in a single hand, rage within the different, and no illusions left to interrupt.
Take this tweet: “Jung karni ho to 9 baje se pehle kar lena, 9:15 per gas chali jati hai hamari.”
Translation: If you are planning a conflict, please do it earlier than 9am—we run out of fuel after that.
It can be hilarious if it weren’t heartbreakingly correct. Pakistan, a nuclear energy, can’t assure a cup of tea within the morning.
Another tweet supplied mock-condolences: “People of Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan, Islamabad—we are sorry.”

A citizen apologising not for terrorism—however for governance. Or the shortage of it.
This isn’t your on a regular basis political frustration. This is one thing extra profound. More fatalistic. What we’re witnessing is post-collapse satire—not born from resistance, however from resignation. Not defiance, however detachment. Pakistanis aren’t mocking their navy, politicians, or failing establishments as a result of they’re indignant. They’re doing it as a result of there’s nothing left to do however chuckle.

The timing of this public self-roast is revealing. Pakistan has as soon as once more been implicated in a cross-border terrorist assault. The victims have been focused for his or her faith. The attackers have been affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba’s proxy, The Resistance Front. And whereas the world watched, Pakistanis didn’t take to the streets to assist their “freedom fighters.” They didn’t protest Indian international coverage. They turned inward—and started roasting the very state that enabled this tragedy.
Not as a result of they have been all of the sudden overcome with guilt. But as a result of they’ve understood what the world nonetheless struggles to say aloud:
The actual sufferer of Pakistan’s obsession with jihad isn’t India. It’s Pakistanis themselves.
Their gas. Their meals. Their forex. Their security. Their dignity.
All sacrificed on the altar of “strategic depth.”
While generals polish their medals and problem denials, the general public boils with a mixture of exhaustion and readability. There’s no electrical energy. Gas is rationed like contraband. Inflation hovers at 30%. The rupee is in freefall. The authorities runs on loans. And when Pakistan was alleged to host the ICC Champions Trophy, India refused to indicate up—forcing Pakistan to play on impartial floor in Dubai. The punchline wrote itself: even Pakistan can’t host itself with no connecting flight.
This stage of civic self-awareness would have as soon as been harmful. A decade in the past, a sarcastic tweet might get you disappeared. Today, the dam has damaged. Not as a result of the state has grown tolerant—however as a result of the folks have grown numb. The rot is now not underground. It’s trending on X.
If memes are the final resort of a powerless populace, then Pakistanis are now full-time philosophers. Their humour is bleak, their metaphors are postmodern, and their sarcasm is indistinguishable from disappointment. This shouldn’t be the comedy of riot. This is the comedy of collapse.
After Pahalgam, the remainder of the world checked out Pakistan with suspicion. But for as soon as, Pakistanis appeared inward—they usually laughed. Not as a result of they didn’t care. But as a result of they’ve stopped pretending that something will change. The state has misplaced the plot. The folks have rewritten it as darkish comedy.
And so, within the aftermath of yet one more tragedy, it wasn’t India that wanted to reply. The loudest condemnation got here from inside Pakistan. Not by means of op-eds or diplomatic cables, however by means of memes, tweets, and deadpan jokes. The solely factor that also capabilities on time in Pakistan immediately is the punchline.
They mocked their incapability to maintain the lights on. Their dependence on bailouts. Their cricketing humiliations. Their rulers. Their uniforms.
It was gallows humour in a gaslit republic.
Albert Camus would’ve known as it freedom—the second you cease asking why and easily push the boulder once more. That’s the Sisyphus Clause.
India, regardless of all its flaws, nonetheless chases Jefferson’s promise of happiness—by means of progress, dissent, and democracy.
Pakistan? It has stopped anticipating something. And in that quiet give up, it has turned its residents into jesters, philosophers, and unwilling realists.
They don’t protest anymore. They don’t revolt. They meme. Because in Pakistan, even tragedy comes with load-shedding. And the one factor that ever arrives on time… is the joke.