RAWALPINDI: As a massive power blackout hit whole Pakistan on Saturday, Twitterati lit up the dark night with even darker humor.
Since the outage was reportedly caused by a transmission line trip, not an attack, coup, or apocalypse, the country’s ruling party urged Pakistanis not to worry, with a peace sign emoji.
There has been a technical fault in NTDC which is the reason behind this country-wide #Blackout
The authorities are resolving this issue & power will be restored within few hours. We hope you and your loved ones are alright. Follow govt sources for info and Ghabrana Nahi Hai!— PTI (@PTIofficial) January 9, 2021
But some Twitter users took the blackout as an opportunity to make a jab or two at the government, saying that the country was being restarted in a similar way that we all hope a quick “reset” might repair our computers or gaming consoles.
Twitter user @Mahobili guessed that Prime Minister Imran Khan must have asked his advisers to turn the country “off and on” to fix things.
probably imran khan would have asked his advisors to "off ker k on karain" to see k shayad mulk sahi hojaye.
— Riasat ki maut (@mahobili) January 9, 2021
Lawyer Salaar Khan tweeted out a photo of baffled-looking Khan, with a caption that perhaps Pakistan’s leader had forgotten to pay the country’s electricity bill.
When u forget to pay the bijli ka bill pic.twitter.com/PF8c6wem4p
— Salaar Khan (@Brainmasalaar) January 9, 2021
A meme format popular on Twitter, with a screengrab from the US television show Glee was posted by Twitter user @Commiedi: “Electricity providers tonight: I am going to create a country that is so dark.”
Electricity providers tonight pic.twitter.com/M0fm5r9CNa
— Mashriki Mashkro (@commiedi) January 9, 2021
Similarly, Twitter user @Jahanzaibb_ used the popular Spiderman meme with Pakistanis asking one another if they had light at home.
Pakistani's Rightnow:#blackout #electricity pic.twitter.com/MEQXI1HG7k
— JahanZaib (@JahanZaibb_) January 9, 2021
A classic throwback was to the tendency of some of Pakistan’s religious right to blame any negative event on women’s clothing. Twitter user @Freakonomist5 wrote: “Go head daughters of the nation, wear jeans more.”
Mulk ki betiyon, aur pehno jeans.
— اسریٰ (@freakonomist5) January 9, 2021
Another user @ArhumL92 responded that religious leader Maulana Tariq Jamil, known for finding the fault in jeans would have to blame leggings.
Maulana Tariq about to blame Lululemon spandex for this blackout
— Arhum (@arhuml92) January 9, 2021
Twitter user @Hassan_Javid jested that this was the moment Pakistan’s “candle mafia,” was waiting for, a tongue in cheek remark on Pakistan’s government and media’s tendency to label anything a mafia.
This is the moment the mombatti mafia was waiting for.
— Hassan Javid (@HassanJavid_) January 9, 2021
Another popular joke was that a possible coup was taking place.
Photographer Rizwan Pehelwan cracked a joke that any 90’s Bollywood fan would love, by inserting the word “coup,” into “Choli Ke Peeche,” a classic song from the film “Khalnayak.”
coupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoupcoup
CHOLI KE PEECHAY KYA HAI
— hummus bil lahme (@RizwanPehelwan) January 9, 2021
Many Pakistanis were also finding amusement in the sheer amount of humor taking place online.
Twitter user @Kha_nobya tweeted out a meme format of the Titanic sinking and Pakistanis taking the role of the band that played as it went down.
You can't beat paki Twitter #blackout pic.twitter.com/7ud9VyZKHQ
— Noo (@kha_nobya) January 9, 2021
And lastly, Twitter user @Guilty4fries nailed an all-encompassing joke for the evening, dubbing all that went on online “dark humor.”
Dont joke about power outages. Thats just dark humor
— Cristiano Rona-Daldo (@Guilty4Fries) January 9, 2021
