A Critical Discourse Analysis of Reactionary Twitter Posts on the Motorway Rape Incident (September 09, 2020) in Pakistan

This research work aims to analyze the reactionary Twitter posts on the motorway rape incident which took place on September 09, 2020, in Pakistan. For this purpose, a total number of thirteen tweets were taken from the official pages of the Pakistani actors, social influencers, and common citizens. For the qualitative analysis of the collected data, the researchers used the socio-cognitive model of critical discourse analysis proposed by van Dijk (2007). The results of the study revealed that the producers of Twitter posts either supported or resisted the motorway rape incident which took place in Lahore, Pakistan; however, the majority of the tweets were found in favor of the victims of the incidents and against the people who were involved in the criminal act. In order to support their view stance in favor of the in-group (i.e., the victimized) and against the out-group (i.e., those who were involved in the crime), the producers of the discourses of tweets made use of various discursive strategies. They represented the in-group members in a positive way and the out-group members in a very negative tone. The researchers suggest that such acts against the rights of women should strongly be resisted through the discourses of resistance.