ISI tool kit? Pakistanis flex peacemaker tag, get roasted

The ink on the US-Iran ceasefire agreement has barely dried, but Pakistani users on X are already rushing to crown themselves as the world's peacemakers. And by doing so, they unwittingly opened the floodgates to a hefty dose of roasting.

Scroll through the platform for even a few minutes, and you're likely to spot the same suspiciously uniform template: a Pakistani national lands at an international airport, hands over their passport, and is instantly showered with heartfelt gratitude for bringing peace to the Middle East.

Is it a coordinated ISI toolkit operation? Or just dozens of Pakistanis spontaneously having the exact same heartwarming airport experience? You decide.

The German 80s pop duo, Modern Talking once sang, "Who will save the world?" From these posts, it seems Pakistan has finally delivered the answer the duo had been looking for.

The script is painfully identical in these posts. A Pakistani traveller, out of the blue, lands in an international airport in Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, among others. Then, with passport in hand, they head to the immigration counter, and are immediately hit by a shower of gratitude heavier than rainfall at Cherrapunji at the height of the monsoon season.

There are variations here and there. Yes, but most of them go along these lines: "Just landed at an airport. Handed over my Pakistani passport for immigration and the officer smiled warmly, looked at me and said, 'You're a global peacemaker. We're proud of you'." And some of them, in a half-hearted attempt to be credible, are accompanied by purported images of the terminals of the airports they landed in.

Not everyone sticks strictly to the airport gratitude script, of course. Some are more creative while still claiming the global peacemaker crown.

Take one user, who declared, "Pakistan saved India from energy crisis. At least thank us once, Indiots." Or another, who insisted, "Pakistan saved India from an economic crisis by bringing the warring countries to the negotiating table. The war had a significant impact on its economy."

Square pegs in round holes, as the idiom goes.

Some also rushed to use the opportunity and declare their everlasting loyalty to the ruling regime in Pakistan. As one user proclaimed, "UNDER SHEHBAZ SHARIF & ASIM MUNIR PAKISTAN SAVED THE WORLD. Jab duniya World War III ke edge par thi, Pak ne diplomacy aur military strategy se peace deliver ki. Green Flag ab har mulk mein lehraya ja raha hai.Alhamdulillah."

Predictably, this grand peacemaker flex has been balanced out with a healthy dose of brutal roasting from both Indian and Iranian accounts.

One of the posts, of being showered with gratitude on reaching a foreign airport, received a community note stating the obvious: "The post is a copy-paste from other similar posts solely for the purpose of engagement farming, which is against the T&S."

One user, sharing a montage of suspiciously similar posts of Pakistanis arriving in foreign airports and receiving gratitude, was quick to declare, "Pakistan's ISPR, ISI Toolkit activated."

One user wondered: "Imagine the number of Pakistanis who have landed at an airport globally in the last 24 hours for pure orchestrated propaganda from Pakistan."

Another user sympathised with the users being met with gratitude for being from Pakistan, writing, "I hope you recover quickly from the trauma of being called a Pakistani. My best wishes are with you!!!"

In the end, what was meant to be a triumphant diplomatic flex has backfired spectacularly, turning Pakistan's coordinated peacemaker campaign into prime international meme material.

In any case, the ceasefire which Pakistan proudly claims to have arranged, is in its most fragile state yet.

- Ends

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