This is the time of the year when students in almost all the colleges in Pakistan are celebrating the fact that they’re graduating – and so a lot of universities had their graduation week with the color days and theme days and all.
A video of LUMS students celebrating during their color week has managed to garner a little bit of unwelcome attention
A tiny Tik Tok video from their Pink Day was tweeted by a fake account made on the name of a renowned journalist, Irshad Bhatti. The tweet mockingly called out the entire institution, whereas the video just showed a couple of students dancing and having fun with their fellow batch mates.
https://twitter.com/lrshadBhatti336/status/1132415924030644232
Surprisingly, a lot of people actually chimed in to mock LUMS and the students, and called them out for dancing in the month of Ramazan
For those who don’t realize, this video is at least a month old, if not older.
https://twitter.com/_Aafat_here_/status/1133203745326686213
https://twitter.com/noorulain05/status/1133185057689165824
And then there were those who questioned the entire system of co-education…
https://twitter.com/MtayyabSe/status/1133165152117940225
But then a lot of people tried to shed light on how there are way more important issues which need to be addressed than a couple of students dancing in the safety and privacy of their own university
https://twitter.com/khadijaali354/status/1133084104696705026
“The country is literally burning, and some are worried about a few kids having a bit of harmless fun.”
The video of #LUMS students dancing, which has started trending on social media is a typical example of what we call moral panic. The country is literally burning, and some fools are worried about a few kids having a bit of harmless fun. 🙄
— Nida Kirmani (@NidaKirmani) May 27, 2019
People thought it was alarming so see where the priorities of the population lie i.e. in outraging over consenting adults having fun in the privacy of their university as opposed to actual issues
This week in Pakistan:
-Multiple cases of child r*pe
-Circular debt rises to 795 billion
-Media censored
-Peaceful protestors shot at
-Parliamentarian taken into custody
-Modi reelected in IndiaTop trend on Twitter:
-Kids dancing in #LUMS is destroying Pakistan#Priorities
— Shehzad Ghias Shaikh (@Shehzad89) May 28, 2019
Many pointed out how this might actually raise concerns over the invasion of privacy of these students, and rightly so
why is no one talking about how problematic this invasion of privacy is…? more so from the person in LUMS who posted this video on a public platform w/o consent of those whose faces can clearly be seen in the video #lums https://t.co/mgS4iKIkfy
— trash (@s0llicitus) May 27, 2019
There were quite a few who pointed out that the account that claimed to be of famous journalist Irshad Bhatti is actually a fake account
It is not Irshad bhatti account, it is fake account… Don't take it serious
— umer farooq (@umer943) May 28, 2019
Finding Irshad Bhatti's (real) twitter account is a real sport. pic.twitter.com/TTg0W3vh3c
— Maida Farid (@maidaFarid_) May 26, 2019
People were suggesting Bhatti sahab to change the display on his original account so the fake ones trying to trick people could be identified
Took 2 minuets of my life figuring real irshad bhatti. May none of you have to see this day. @IrshadBhatti336 please change your display picture at least. https://t.co/vWM5WZP9R7 pic.twitter.com/HueYV06zCq
— usman (@usmanjavaids) May 27, 2019
At the end of the day, people just defended LUMS with some straight up facts
"The institution in Pakistan that has the highest representation in Fulbright, has the highest number of alumni in top US and UK graduate schools, and has the highest proportion of passing candidates for CSS examinations is called LUMS. #roksakotouroklo
— Hassaan Anjum (@AnjumHassaan) May 27, 2019
It’s just saddening how people manage to make issues out of the tiniest things, while disregarding everything else that is happening around the company. A couple of kids having fun in their own safe space does not warrant anyone the right to judge or criticize them, especially while their privacy could very much be the first thing being invaded.
