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Pakistanis flood Twitter with jibes as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram face global outage 

Screenshot of a tweet by Twitter's official account saying: “hello literally everyone,” on Oct. 4, 2021. (Photo courtesy: Social Media)
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Updated 05 October 2021
SABAH BANO MALIK 
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Pakistanis flood Twitter with jibes as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram face global outage 

  • Facebook faced global outage on Monday that prevented company’s 3.5 billion users from accessing its services 
  • Pakistan Twitter did what Pakistan Twitter does best: have a laugh and turn to humor to make the most of the situation
Updated 05 October 2021
SABAH BANO MALIK 

RAWALPINDI: As Facebook Inc. faced a nearly six-hour outage on Monday that prevented the company’s 3.5 billion users from accessing services such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, social media users, including in Pakistan, flooded to Twitter to post jibes against its rivalling platforms. 

Twitter opened up the fun with a tweet saying: “hello literally everyone.” 

In one of the day’s most popular tweets, video streaming company Netflix shared a meme from its new hit show “Squid Game” captioned “When Instagram & Facebook are down,” that showed a person labeled “Twitter” holding up a character on the verge of falling labeled “everyone.”

Pakistan Twitter too did what Pakistan Twitter does best – have a laugh and turn to humor to make the most of the situation, with hundreds of thousands of tweets about the outage popping up on the site overnight.

Twitter’s resident funny person @Mahobilli posted a meme of other apps giving Twitter the stink eye in the form of a grumpy cat.

With Whatsapp down, major teleco firm Jazz turned to Twitter to remind people of a service that was always reliable: “3 letters: S M S.”

Many tweeps also poked fun at the government, asking how it was being run since Whatsapp was down, referring to ubiquitous Pakistani jokes that politics was done mostly on social media now.

Others decided to poke a little fun at ‘slow’ Internet providers in Pakistan with Twitter user @Arhuml92 writing, “PTCL users still don’t know Facebook is down.”

PTCL, a telecom based in Pakistan, quickly sent out a reassuring message to its users: “WhatsApp and Facebook services are down globally and we assure you that there is no issue on our end.”

Twitter user @ashaqeens wrote in response: “PTCL really said ‘it’s not my mistake this time please stop yelling at me.”

Others quipped about how the outage was impacting their lives. 

Islamabad police woman Amna Baig said: “Doing actual policing now that SM [social media] is down.”

Sports journalist Faizan Lakhani shared a popular gif of a frustrated, bored boy, saying admins of popular WhatsApp groups suddenly had nothing to do.

Journalist Safia Mahmood wrote, “bro whatsapp, facebook, insta down… how do i tell my fam I’m alive.”


 

Topics: Pakistan WhatsApp Twitter Facebook

India captain says will travel for Pakistan clash despite boycott

Updated 05 February 2026
AFP
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India captain says will travel for Pakistan clash despite boycott

  • Pakistan have announced they will boycott their match against India on Feb. 15 in Sri Lanka 
  • India need to be at the stadium on Feb. 15 to ensure they are awarded two points for match
Updated 05 February 2026
AFP

MUMBAI: India captain Suryakumar Yadav said Thursday that his team would show up in Colombo for their T20 World Cup clash against Pakistan, despite their Group A opponents and arch-rivals boycotting the match.

“We haven’t said no to playing them (Pakistan),” Yadav told reporters at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, where India will begin their campaign against the United States on Saturday’s opening day.

“They are the ones who have said no. Our flights are booked and we are going to Colombo.”

India need to be at the stadium and ready to take the field for the February 15 match in order to make sure of being awarded the two points for a match forfeit.

The tournament, co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India, has been overshadowed by weeks of political posturing in the build-up.

Bangladesh were kicked out for refusing to play in India and Pakistan’s government then told its team not to show up at the clash of the arch-rivals as a show of support for Bangladesh.

Pakistan and India have not played bilateral cricket for more than a decade, and meet only in global or regional tournaments events.

India start the T20 World Cup on home soil with a great chance of retaining the title they won two years ago and Yadav agreed they were the side to beat.

“The way we have been playing, it looks like we are the favorites,” he smiled.

If that seemed like an overconfident statement, the India captain was quick to caution: “There are 19 (other) good teams in the tournament, though.

“On a given day, when you play, you have to bring your A-game and play good cricket.”

India know that their opening opponents, the United States, caused the biggest upset of the 2024 tournament when they beat Pakistan in a super over.

Yadav said no team would be taken lightly.

“I’m sure every game will be very important,” he said.

Topics: Pakistan v India

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