Bleak assessment
Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of the PML-Q, criticising the performance of the PML-N government, said that such electricity as we now have will also have disappeared by 2018. According to Daily Jang (15 May 2017), launching a string of accusations against the ruling government, he also stated that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was establishing a Mental Health Authority but that the CM ought to get himself checked there first.
“Hands off our polling stations!”
Speaking to party workers in Peshawar, the PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari predicted a win for the PPP in the next general elections. According to Daily Nawa-i-Waqt (15 May 2017), the former president went on to say that if the government rigged the polls, his party would occupy the polling stations.
Well-known in China?
Senator Mushahidullah of the PML-N was quoted by Daily Nawa-i-Waqt (16 May 2017) as saying that news of Zardari’s corruption had spread even to China. The senator went on to state that the former president could not get a single dollar from the China, even after ‘25’ tours of that country.
The Maulana’s view
The leader of the JUI-S, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, was quoted by Daily Nawa-i-Waqt (16 May 2017) as saying that jihad was the identity (shanakht) of the Deoband school (Deobandiat). He went on to remark that it was Deobandiat that defeated three superpowers, and that Pervez Musharraf had begun the policy of fighting Muslims, but that it was not the task of rulers and the state to give fatwas about jihad.
Musharraf’s approach
According to Daily Nawa-i-Waqt (17 May 2017), former president General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf feels that Nawaz Sharif had been widely mocked on social media over the Panama judgement. He went on to express his view that one ought to step down from their office if people are saying bad things (bura bhala) about them.
Imran Khan and the Forty Thieves?
Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak was quoted by Daily Express (19 May 2017) as saying that Imran Khan, alone, wanted change in the country. He went on to say that on one side there are all the thieves and on the other side stands Imran Khan alone. The CM went on to express his hope that in coming elections, all the thieves would be swept away.
Gullu strikes again?
Daily Dunya (21 May 2017) reported that leaders of the Awami Lawyers Forum condemned the alleged thuggery and vandalism by ‘government-sponsored’ lawyers. Leaders of the Forum went on to say that the lawyers would never accept the ‘Gullucracy’ of the government, and that no government – democratic or non-democratic – could successfully prevent the lawyers from speaking or compel them to submit.
Sheikh Rasheed’s predictions
Sheikh Rasheed predicted that the coming days will all be bad ones for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. According to Daily Express (21 May 2017), the leader of the Awami Muslim League went on to say that the ruling party was handing out 35 crore (350 million) and 70 crore (700 million) rupees as if they were alms at Lahore’s Data Darbar.
Impostor
Police in Lahore have arrested an individual who was using fake ID to pass himself off as an operative from a secret agency. According to Daily Express (21 May 2017), authorities seized a uniform and fake cards from the man, who went around threatening and terrifying people while posing as someone from a law enforcement agency.
No time for Socrates?
Daily Express (21 May 2017) quoted Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal as saying that all kinds of Socrates’ (Suqrat Buqrat) could go on crying, but that Pakistan would continue on the path to development. He was of the view that in the past, the country did not suffer from poor policies, but from lack of stability.