I HAD to step outside social media silos to understand what was happening in Lahore, because my trusted sources — ie, this newspaper and other legacy outlets — were reporting on student protests while information about the alleged rape seemed muted. On social media, meanwhile, things were alarming, even horrific. No rape was as possible as the cover up of one. I wanted to create a timeline myself to make sense of things — this is before The Current published a very good explainer — namely, had a rape occurred?

While student protests and police brutality have continued across Punjab, there’s more clarity, at least for me: a young woman and her family’s name have been dragged through the mud, and they will likely have to spend the next few years explaining that she/their daughter was not raped. Students who are braving police violence are being used for political point-scoring. No one believes the government, and likely won’t even if Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz pursues criminal cases against those who spread misinformation, as her administration seems to be doing. Minds have been made up across the political divide.

Welcome to this age of disinformation — with dangerous consequences.

Let........

© Dawn