Javed Hashmi is old and unwell, and nobody is surprised by that. Age, sickness, and fatigue can make anyone slower, less patient, and more emotional. But this latest X post is not some harmless slip caused by frail health. It reads like something else entirely: a stubborn refusal to think, a quick hunger for outrage, and a craving to look brave in front of an audience that cheers the loudest voice, not the clearest mind. When a public figure spreads a dramatic lie with confidence, it is not just a personal mistake. It becomes a public hazard because thousands of people treat the post as proof, then repeat it, then wrap their own anger and pride around it.
What’s worse is the crowd that rushes to defend such posts. You see it every day: people who call themselves “anti-Army” champions, as if that label alone makes them honest. They behave as if morality is a costume. They do not check. They do not ask for evidence. They do not pause to consider what is plausible. They just grab whatever story flatters their bias, then parade it as courage. It is not courage.
It is gullibility dressed up as righteousness. And in a country where rumors can trigger real damage, this kind of behavior is not only foolish, it is dangerous
This is also why the debate around social media limits is not a joke anymore. Many countries argue about children and screens, but our problem is not only children. It is also adults who behave like children online, and who have enough reach to pull younger people into the same mental habits. If a sixteen-year-old shares a fake story, you can at least say they are learning. If a senior politician shares it and doubles down with religious language and high-volume certainty, then you are looking at something more depressing: a grown man performing ignorance and being rewarded for it. That reward system is what should make our heads hang in shame. Our youth should not be taught that the loudest liar is a hero.
The specific claim in question is a clear example of this sickness in our online culture. There is no credible evidence, no official confirmation, and no serious reporting that Pakistani soldiers are deployed in Gaza. Yet the post speaks as if it is a settled fact, as if secret operations are common knowledge, as if fantasy is “inside information.” This is how misinformation works. It does not ask permission. It fills gaps with drama, then dares you to doubt it.
And once a lie enters the bloodstream of social media, it becomes very hard to remove. People do not share it because it is true. They share it because it feels good to believe it
Then comes the next layer: invented casualties and a made-up “tunnel clearance” tale. This part is not only false-sounding, but it is also obscene in how it uses human suffering as a prop. Gaza is already soaked in real tragedy. Turning it into a stage for made-up hero stories is not solidarity. It is theft. It steals attention from actual victims and turns a complex conflict into a cheap movie scene. If someone wants to help Palestinians, there are real ways to do it: charity, advocacy, pressure for humanitarian corridors, and support for documented relief efforts. Spreading a fake military story does nothing except inflate the ego of the person posting it and the crowd applauding.
Another basic point that gets ignored in such posts is the mandate. Pakistan has no mandate to disarm anyone in Gaza. That idea makes no sense legally, politically, or practically. Gaza is not a playground where foreign forces can walk in and impose order. It is a contested territory tied to regional power struggles, international law, and brutal realities on the ground. People who keep repeating the disarmament fantasy are not making a bold suggestion. They are showing that they do not understand how states, borders, and wars work. You do not fix a conflict by inventing a role for your own country that the world has not assigned and that your state has not declared.
The ugliest part is how religion gets pulled in to seal the lie. Fake fatwas, emotional sermons, and sanctimonious language are used like a shield. The message is simple: if you question the story, you must be against Islam or against Palestinians. That is emotional blackmail. It is also a deep disrespect to religion itself. Faith is not a tool for forwarding rumors. If someone truly fears God, they should fear lying, slander, and the damage caused by reckless speech.
When religion is used to bless a false story, it becomes a double sin: a lie plus a misuse of sacred language to bully others into silence
Some people argue that such posts do not deserve a response. In one sense, that is true. Engaging with every rumor can feel like feeding a fire. But silence has a cost, too, because the audience is not only the poster. The audience is the thousands watching, many of them young, many of them impressionable, many already trained by algorithms to treat anger as wisdom. For their sake, clarity matters. Not because the liar deserves dignity, but because the public deserves truth. When misinformation becomes normal, the whole society loses its grip on reality, and then every debate turns into a shouting match between competing fantasies.
So here is the standard we should push, again and again, until it becomes boring. Verify before posting. Ask for sources. Look for official statements. Check reputable reporting. If you cannot find confirmation, treat the claim as unproven, not as a trophy to show your followers. And if you are a public figure, act like one. You do not get to hide behind age, illness, or emotion when you have influence. Influence comes with duty. If someone cannot meet that duty, they should step back from the microphone, because Pakistan cannot afford leaders who turn national conversation into a rumor theater.
This is not only about one man’s post. It is about the kind of culture we are building. A culture where evidence is optional, where outrage is currency, where religion is a stamp for lies, and where young people are taught to idolize noise. We can do better, but only if we stop rewarding stupidity with attention and start rewarding restraint, honesty, and basic critical thinking.
