2. Digital Piety and National Duty: Navigating Blasphemy and Treason on Pakistani Twitter

This chapter focuses on a series of events related to the sudden disappearance of bloggers in Pakistan on 7th January 2017. Following the incident, the broadcast media reported that the bloggers were sharing blasphemous content and were involved in anti-state activities. This revelation triggered online conversations between the liberal publics that supported their right to post and the conservative publics that opposed it. While focusing on two hashtags that polarise the public on the issue, the chapter utilises CDA to evaluate the discourses generated on patriotism and national identity. The findings highlight how the conservative discourse constitutes angry, threat-like closed statements that allow no room for disagreement, whereas the liberal public uses strategic speaking to create anti-state discourse on patriotism. It also reflects on the democratic nature of the counterpublic spheres on X.