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Pakistanis respond after 'spy pigeon' detained in India

  • Published
    2 June 2015
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Pigeon memeImage source, Twitter/MaanImranKhan
ByBBC Trending
What's popular and why

The news of a pigeon detained in India on suspicion of being used to spy for Pakistan was met with amusement on both sides of the border - and encouraged Pakistanis to share memes and jokes making fun of their neighbours.

It all started when a 14-year-old boy in an Indian village close to the border with Pakistan found a white pigeon with a message written partly in Urdu, the language widely used in Pakistan, and some numbers in on its feathers. The bird was taken to police who ordered the bird to be X-rayed. Nothing suspicious turned up, but the pigeon was registered in police logs as a "suspected spy" according to reports.

The area where the bird was found is close to Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan and the scene of cross-border military confrontation.

"This is a rare instance of a bird from Pakistan being spotted here. We have caught a few spies here. The area is sensitive, given its proximity to Jammu, where infiltration is quite common," local police superintendent Rakesh Kaushal told the Times of India.

India and Pakistan frequently accuse each other of spying. This week, the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed, external concern over the actions of foreign intelligence agencies in Pakistan - which many saw as an allusion to India. But the official detention of a bird led to amusement and sarcasm on both sides of the border.

In Pakistan, pictures were created to mock the Indian authorities and portray the humble pigeon as a suave modern-day spy. The hashtags #PigeonVsIndia, external and #IfIWereAPigeon, external have been mentioned tens of thousands of times. Both hashtags appear to be promoted by two, external social media teams, external who actively seek to create Twitter trends, and identify themselves as supporters of Pakistan's Tehrik-i-Insaf political party.

Here's a selection of the pigeon memes causing a flap on Pakistani social media:

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pictured in this pigeon memeImage source, @a_m_j_a_d_
Image caption,

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pictured in this pigeon meme

Pigeon memeImage source, Twitter/defencepk
pigeon memeImage source, @Ayazahmad001
Pigeon memeImage source, Twitter/khajasaaein
Pigeon memeImage source, Twitter/safeeransari
Pigeon memeImage source, Twitter/KhawarOfficial
Image caption,

Translation: "Indian media be like... Pakistan has attacked India"

Pigeon memeImage source, Twitter/mishkoo90

This is not the first bird detained on suspicion of, ahem, foul play. In 2010, a pigeon suspected of being a Pakistani spy was handed over to wildlife authorities after an investigation, according, external to The Indian Express newspaper.

Blog by Samiha Nettikkara, external

Next story: Chinese dog-eating festival outrages foreigners

Dogs in cagesImage source, DUO DUO

The Yulin dog eating festival has started to attract international attention - most of it negative. READ MORE

Follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external.

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