• Source:JND
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A week after fierce border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the truce between the two neighbours has turned into a fresh humiliation for Islamabad. The Taliban has launched a wave of online mockery through viral videos dubbed the “Pants Parade,” where fighters are seen waving captured Pakistani army trousers and uniforms, as a symbolic act that has reopened Pakistan’s most painful historical wound: the 1971 surrender of 93,000 soldiers to India.

How The ‘Pants Parade’ Began

The online campaign began soon after intense cross-border clashes ended last week. Pakistan had conducted air and artillery strikes targeting the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) inside Afghan territory. The move backfired when Taliban forces retaliated fiercely, claiming to have destroyed at least 20 Pakistani border posts and inflicted heavy casualties.

After days of fighting, a ceasefire was reportedly brokered with the help of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. But even before the dust could settle, Taliban-linked accounts began posting videos of fighters parading Pakistani army uniforms and trousers allegedly left behind by soldiers who abandoned their positions.

The ‘93,000 Pants Ceremony 2.0’ Trend

What might have been dismissed as typical battlefield propaganda quickly evolved into a nationwide trend across Afghan social media platforms. Users called it the “93,000 Pants Ceremony 2.0,” drawing parallels with the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War when 93,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to Indian and Bangladeshi forces in Dhaka.

The Taliban’s mockery was direct and deliberate. Fighters were seen laughing, waving garments like trophies, and referring to them as “spoils of war.” Hashtags like #93000 and #PantsParade began trending across X (formerly Twitter), with users posting memes and comparing Islamabad’s current embarrassment to the 1971 capitulation.

Echoes of 1971: The India Link

For Pakistan’s military, the number “93,000” is etched in history as a symbol of defeat. On December 16, 1971, Lt Gen A.A.K. Niazi signed the Instrument of Surrender before India’s Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, marking the birth of Bangladesh. That moment remains one of India’s proudest military victories and Pakistan’s deepest humiliation.

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Now, Afghan activists and journalists are using the same imagery to suggest that Islamabad has “surrendered again,” this time to Kabul. Kabul-based activist Fazal Afghan posted, “1971: Surrendered to Indians. 2025: Surrendered to Afghans. Team 93,000 never fails.”

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While both governments claim victory, the Taliban appears to be winning the war of perception. The “Pants Parade” has become a viral symbol of defiance, painting Pakistan as weak and unprepared.For Islamabad, the incident is more than a embarrassment, it revives a shadow from half a century ago, one that India still remembers vividly and Afghanistan now invokes with digital precision.

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