Sheikh Rasheed’s reassurance
Federal railways minister Sheikh Rasheed was quoted by Daily Jang (27 January 2020) as saying that neither PM Imran Khan nor Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar were going anywhere. He went on to say that the PM was of the view that the country’s problems (mulki masail) would be solved by 2020, and that he himself asked Rawalpindi’s people to give him until 2021 to solve their problems.
Art of the Deal
US President Donald Trump, according to Daily Jang (29 January 2020), is of the view that the Arab Muslim states made a historic mistake by not accepting Israel in 1948. Now, as part of the Deal of the Century that he is offering, the Palestinians will have to fulfil all conditions before being granted a future state as part of the Deal of the Century – and the first condition would be to “renounce terrorism” once and for all.
One more U-turn
Daily Express (29 January 2020) informed its readers that the government had also backed off from making public the names of officials who had benefited from the Benazir Income Support Programme, and that this represented yet another U-turn. A Senate Standing Committee was informed that the government had decided to keep the names of these officials secret. The report went on to note that there were such allegations against some 2,548 officials from grade 17 to 21.
“Ghabrana Nahin”
Daily Jang (28 Janaury 2020) reported that PM Imran Khan tells his own team not to be afraid (ghabraya na karo). The PM sees many ministers showing fear at cabinet meetings and they appear down from the look on their faces, because the people are crying out due to high prices of essential goods (kabeena ijlas mein kaii wazeeron ko ghabraye dekhta hoon, inki shaklein utari hoti hein ke loog mehngai per ro rahay hein). But he assures them that they should not fear, because it takes time to carry out reforms and there are often obstacles on the path.
Double dose
The PML-N’s Marriyum Aurangzaib, according to Daily Express (30 January 2020) feels that in view of the things PM Imran Khan has been saying, he needs two injections instead of one (Imran sahib aap jo baatein kar rahay hein, iskay baad aap ko aik nahin do teekay lagnay chahiye).
Seeing things
Siraj-ul-Haq of the Jamaat-e-Islami was quoted by Daily Dunya (31 January 2020) as saying that the enthusiasm for change had ended with the peace of the grave (Tabdeeli ka Junoon - Qabr ke Sukoon per khatam ho gya). He went on to express his view that while PM Imran Khan was seeing houris, the people were seeing stars during the day (Wazir-e-Azam ko Hoorein aur awam ko din mein sitaray nazar aa rahay hein).