This post is useful to understand the politics of blocking and unblocking on Twitter.
As a Shia Hazara activist, it was painful for me to observe on 2-7 October 2011 how certain urban “liberal” elites in Pakistani media and civil society (namely Ali Dayan Hasan, Raza Rumi and Marvi Sirmed) collectively harassed a Hazara activist (a propagandist of Abdul Khaliq Hazara’s Hazara Democratic Party HDP), M. Saleem Javed, forcing him to mend his ways and discourse consistent with their own narratives.
Please read the following conversation from bottom to top in order to see how urban fake liberals were able to harass and bring an impressionable Hazara activist in line with their own discourse.
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Call it a ‘Kufi Shia sellout’ or whatever you want. I’m still thankful to @AliDayan for producing a balanced report on Hazara genocide.
6 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Bravo! RT @AliDayan: “The targeted killings of Shia R a barbaric attempt at sectarian & ethnic cleansing”says @HRW bit.ly/oip71P
5 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@AliDayan sir, can you please send me the link of @hrw statement on Hazar Ganji incident?
4 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed @Razarumi @AliDayan Sure. :)) Quetta valley, Sarapa Khedmat!
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
@marvisirmed @Razarumi @mSaleemJaved Indeed we are all colleagues. Glad this matter is resolved.
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed @Razarumi @AliDayan Make sure to give me the honor to serve you.
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed @AliDayan @Razarumi But a tweet on his page says he has unblocked me just 2hrs ago. Thanks, anyways.
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@AliDayan @marvisirmed @Razarumi Apologies if I was unblocked yesterday. But I fail to follow him even now.
3 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed ma’am, am still blocked. Excuse me if any error with my page. @AliDayan @Razarumi
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@AliDayan blocked me just for tagging him in a couple of videos re Hazara genocide. Nothing more. @Razarumi @marvisirmed
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
@mSaleemJaved Please be civil if you want to be heard. I have unblocked you upon the intervention of @razarumi and @marvisirmed
3 Oct
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
@mSaleemJaved unless you have something useful and constructive to say – go away.
3 Oct
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
@mSaleemJaved Did you get my DM?
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Exactly. If only the libs & #HR activists support each other instead of blocking. No room for harassment @Razarumi @marvisirmed @AliDayan
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
RT @Razarumi: @marvisirmed Darling you and I and the other handful libs will be killed before we even plan to attack these fundamentalists
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed Ma’am,never been rude.Denounced blocking @Laibaah.Criticized calling her ‘country girl who should milk buffalo only’ @Razarumi
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@AliDayan has blocked me.This is ONLY because I mentioned him in a couple of tweets regarding the Hazara genocide! @Razarumi @marvisirmed
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed @Razarumi @AliDayan Thanks heaps!
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed @AliDayan @Razarumi But a tweet on his page says he has unblocked me just 2hrs ago. Thanks, anyways.
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@AliDayan @marvisirmed @Razarumi Apologies if I was unblocked yesterday. But I fail to follow him even now.
3 Oct
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
@mSaleemJaved Saleem sahib, he has unblocked you yesterday and has said so :(( @AliDayan @Razarumi
3 Oct
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
@mSaleemJaved @AliDayan Ali, I’m sorry for this. Didn’t know my request to unblock him will earn you more poisonous tweets :((( @Razarumi
3 Oct
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
@mSaleemJaved And now he has unblocked. I never saw a message of thanks from you, instead all these snide tweets @AliDayan @Razarumi
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
@mSaleemJaved But why is he getting all these snide tweets from you once he has unblocked? @AliDayan @Razarumi
3 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
@AliDayan Exactly. If you want to be unblocked just to insult people, I’m sorry! @mSaleemJaved @razarumi
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed ma’am, am still blocked. Excuse me if any error with my page. @AliDayan @Razarumi
3 Oct
Razarumi Raza Rumi
@mSaleemJaved Isee liye tau kaha jaata haye achi larkiyon se taluqaat honay chahiye. Uss larki ne tumhay kahin ka nahee chorra @marvisirmed
Razarumi Raza Rumi
@mSaleemJaved if I would troll and defame you or call you names, would you not block me? No rocket science here! @marvisirmed @AliDayan
Razarumi Raza Rumi
@AliDayan oops, our tweets crossed each other and we said almost the same thing. #bizarre #lol
3 Oct Favorite Retweet Reply
Razarumi Raza Rumi
@mSaleemJaved If we want 2 B hrd & make a point, civility helps. No point in offending those who fight 4 rights. @marvisirmed @AliDayan
Razarumi Raza Rumi
@marvisirmed Well said. Our friend @mSaleemJaved is a reasonable guy. @AliDayan to pls note
Razarumi Raza Rumi
@mSaleemJaved You were always such a polite guy until you met the femme fatale #Laibaah on Twitter 🙂 #company
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
RT by beenasarwar
RT @AliDayan: @mSaleemJaved thanks a lot for clarifying. Hope you can now see that some anonymous ppl just make trouble/distort @Razarumi
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
@mSaleemJaved That’s the reason I never tire of telling her, lt’s not alienate our progressive allies :((( @Laibaah @AliDayan @Razarumi
marvisirmed Marvi Sirmed
@mSaleemJaved Uh oh! You must have become a part of that irritating ‘activism’ our friend @Laibaah keeps doing 🙂 @AliDayan @Razarumi
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@AliDayan blocked me just for tagging him in a couple of videos re Hazara genocide. Nothing more. @Razarumi @marvisirmed
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Been always polite until blocked unreasonably by @AliDayan @Razarumi any evidence I called him names before getting blocked? @marvisirmed
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Exactly. If only the libs & #HR activists support each other instead of blocking. No room for harassment @Razarumi @marvisirmed @AliDayan
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
If you back away from ur duties you surely lose your soul, I may say. @Darveshh @AbdulNishapuri @AliDayan @TheseLongWars
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Qadri kills anybody w/denounces discrimination against #Christians & #Ahmedis w/ @AliDayan kills somebody w/cries out 4 Hazaras on Twitter.
3 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@AliDayan & his gang banned #Laibaah cuz she was a ‘virus’. They’re blocking me cuz I raise voice from the heart of the danger city! #Quetta
2 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Disappointed & saddened by @AliDayan’s conduct. Seems as if everybody is a closet extremist here. Zero tolerance for opposite views!
2 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
After being blocked by @AliDayan, I have handsomely realized how sensitive and ‘Ghairatmand’ the progressive Pakistanis are!
2 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Blocking anybody who raises voice against the #Hazara genocide shows the extent of remorse and guilt. It’s time for @AliDayan to grow!
2 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Salute to @AliDayan ‘s activism. He blocks anybody who protests against the #Hazara genocide in #Pakistan. @KenRoth @hrw
2 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
LeJ & rest of the terrorists kill #Hazara Shias on the roads while @AliDayan kills them on Twitter.
2 Oct
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@marvisirmed Ma’am,never been rude.Denounced blocking @Laibaah.Criticized calling her ‘country girl who should milk buffalo only’ @Razarumi
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
@AliDayan has blocked me.This is ONLY because I mentioned him in a couple of tweets regarding the Hazara genocide! @Razarumi @marvisirmed
2 Oct