That Mr Akbar’s party, the PTI, introduced this culture does not justify the attack on him. The heightened tempers created on the social media leads to an atmosphere in which attacks like the one on Mr Akbar seem justified. It starts with toxicity in cyberspace, moves on to making scenes in public, and then progresses to physical attacks. The attack on Mr Akbar was preceded by the crowd which hooted Mrs Imran Khan when she visited him in jail recently. Only if political leaders stop giving tacit approval to keyboard warriors, easily done by some disciplinary proceedings, and dial down their rhetoric themselves, can this new phenomenon be stopped.

Source: Pakistan Today November 29, 2023 00:00 UTC