Meanwhile in Malta
According to Daily Dunya (23 July 2018), Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was cleared of all allegations of corruption arising from the Panama Papers. He had called early elections due to the allegations against himself, his wife and associates – which he won with a clear majority. The report quoted Muscat as saying that justice had finally been done, with his name being cleared.
Against kingship
The PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, according to Daily Dunya (23 July 2018) stated that there was no future in Pakistan for those who wanted kingship (badsahahat) in Pakistan. He further stated that the PPP was the name of an ideology which nobody could finish off.
First things first
Tahir-ul-Qadri was quoted by Daily Jang (23 July 2018) as saying that if elections had been conducted after the process of accountability was completed, then thieves and looters would not have dared to raise fingers (choron luteron ko ungli uthanay ki jurrat na hoti).
Maulana’s recipe for preventing religious conflict
Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman was quoted by Daily Jang (23 July 2018) as saying that conflict was being created along religious and ethnic lines. He further expressed his view that the PTI had been imposed on the Pashtun belt to remove religion by its roots. He added that no honourable (ghairat-mand) Pashtun could take up the agenda of the PTI, and that the religion of the state would have to be Islam.
Flood of wrath
It was reported by Daily Jang (23 July 2018) that Shehbaz Sharif predicted a defeat for “Jhoota Khan” and that if the polls were rigged, he would be unable to stop the popular flood (awami sailaab).
Higher than the Himalayas
Former Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong, according to Daily Jang (24 July 2018), wrote to Shehbaz Sharif, referring to him as “dear brother” and “dear friend”, and thanking him for his cooperation in CPEC projects.
Bon appetit!
Daily Dunya (25 July 2018) reported on the measures being taken by political parties to woo disgruntled (roothay) voters. Fine dishes were being served at the offices of political parties, with chicken biryani, haleem, meat dishes, qorma, murgh channay and naan being in great demand. According to the report, as candidates opened up large pots of food (deyg) to win over voters, caterers and cook-shops stopped taking orders due to over-booking.
Exclusive
Daily Express (26 July 2018) reported that Amnesty International had condemned new legislation declaring Israel a “Jewish nation-state” as being discriminatory. The human-rights watchdog was quoted as saying that the legislation would only cement 70 years of discrimination against minorities within the Zionist state.
Musharraf rises to Khan’s defence
Former strongman General (r.) Pervez Musharraf was quoted by Daily Express (27 July 2018) as having snubbed what he saw as Indian media efforts to depict Imran Khan as being anti-Indian. Further, in the same interview, Musharraf stated that if Pakistan had been unable to progress till today, India was responsible for that situation.
Cause and effect?
DDaily Express (28 July 2018) informed its readers that with the emergence of PTI as the majority party and some recent measures by the State Bank, there was a new trend in foreign exchange markets as the value of the rupee began to improve vis-a-vis the US dollar.