Abstract

In a technologically fast paced world, social media has no doubt shrunk the distances yet has equally put humankind in a power position to change the course of its life, society and state with a mere click publishing and reshaping the unique content to an unlimited sea of audience. In the wake of the Covid-19 uncertainty the existing biases flooded not only in the public offices but also social media, i.e. Facebook and Whatsapp. The fragile inter-ethnic and inter sectarian peace of Quetta suffered as insecurities among citizens were on the rise forming the ripe conditions for an ethno-sectarian violent situation which also could take turn into either genocide or civil war.This research attempts to explore this phenomenon by investigating the role of Hate Speech over Facebook and analyzing its effects on inter-ethnic and inter-sectarian relations in Quetta. Research questions how the hate speech over Facebook goes viral and has a hand in the violent incidents in the city. This study also attempts to find how naive common citizens perceive certain hate statements and in turn how the hate speech shapes the pre-existing biases and beliefs. Facebook posts of specified time period were analyzed into the frame of the Speech Act Theory. The outcome of the study shows that a majority of students were able to identify the hate speech and verify that their opinions were not affected by it. Moreover that the physical world changes and unrest causes a wave of hate speech over Facebook, which in turn incites more violent developments in the physical world as the hate speech publishers and writers are well hidden behind the screens with fake identities and thus can incite violence playing with words on any agenda.

Key words: ethno-sectarian violent, Hate Speech, Speech Act Theory