SOCIAL MEDIA AND HATE SPEECH: THE CASE OF SECTARIAN DIVIDE IN PAKISTAN

Many of Pakistani people lost their lives to the bloody tussle of sects during 1980s’ and so on in coming years too. In historic perspective, Shia-Sunni conflicts were mainly layered under governance and were not permitted to collapse into quarrel before partition of subcontinent. However once Pakistan took birth, the unease among two; Shias and Sunnis, was unleashed and turned severe by the mid-1980s. Sectarianism is the phenomenon not new in Pakistan. Even before partition, sectarian clashes used to occur, off and on, in subcontinent. This study probed into sectarianism in today’s Pakistan, in perspective of social media sites which are influencing lives rapidly. This research has been conducted to identify the influence of online interactive sites, into spreading hate speech and sectarianism in Pakistan. The researchers have analyzed the face book pages run by Shia and Suuni community. The findings revealed that social media is promoting sectarian and intolerance among masses by projecting violent content.