A very happy birthday from Multan too…
Daily Dunya (26 Dec 2016) reported that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif received birthday messages from world leaders, family members and PML-N party leaders at regional and local levels. The report went on to say that in Multan, the birthday celebration fell victim to undisciplined behaviour (bad-nazmi ka shikar) as party activists attacked the cake (cake per dhawa bol diya) and began to throw it at each other instead of eating it, while female party activists also danced to bhangra and drum beats.
A delicate question
IIn his remarks in court, the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, was quoted by Daily Jang (27 Dec 2016) as asking that if non-Muslims want to close down some liquor shops (sharab khanay), why did Muslims have a problem with this (kya masla hai)?
It’s done?
It was reported by Daily Dunya (28 Dec 2016) that actress Meera has called 2017 the year of her wedding. The star went on to say that she had decided to marry and in doing so, silence (moohn bandd kar doon) those people who are always concerned about her marriage. She stated also that she had found a groom (dulha), upon seeing whom the other actresses would be stunned (dangg rehh jaein gi) and that she would bring him before everyone at an appropriate time.
A likely conspiracy?
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) Allama Qari Muhammad Zawar Bahadur was quoted by Daily Jang (29 Dec 2016) as saying that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was engaged in an impious conspiracy (na-pak saazish) to make the Pakistani constitution secular, using the pretext of upholding the rights of religious minorities.
You can run, but you can’t hide…from the mullah!
The leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, was quoted by Daily Jang (29 Dec 2016) as saying that there would be no escape from the mullah (mullah se chutkara mumkin nahin). He said that the maulvi leads the congregation at weddings and funerals, and that now the maulvi will also do politics.
Millions making merry?
Daily Jang (29 Dec 2016) quoted a Wall Street Journal report which, referring to the increase in alcohol consumption in Pakistan over the past few years, estimated that there could be some 20 million consumers of alcohol in Pakistan, which is 97 percent a Muslim country.
Open secret
Former president General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf was quoted by Daily Express (31 Dec 2016) as saying that he had not spoken to anyone for his name to be removed from the ECL (Exit Control List), and that everyone knew the reality (haqeeqat) of how he was able to leave the country – but that some people are hypocritical about it.
‘Happy New Year’ from the authorities!
It was reported by Daily Express (31 Dec 2016) that in Lahore, the ETO Excise tasked four special squads with halting the illegal sale of alcohol on the New Year. The report stated that the special squads conducted nightly raids in various parts of the city, securing many litres (senkaron litre) of alcohol and drug pills (nasha-aaawar golian).
‘Happy New Year’ from the JUI
Daily Express (01 Jan 2017) quoted JUI leaders as saying that celebrations involving dancing, obscenity (fahashi) and lack of modesty (bey-hayaa’i) should not be permitted on the pretext of ‘Happy New Year’. The leaders reminded people that life is melting away like ice and so we should all strive to do good things.
Keeping the cat in the bag…
PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari was quoted by Daily Express (01 Jan 2017) as saying that without his vote, the Prime Minister (Mian sahib) would have been unable to form a government and that the system would have broken down, resulting in some cat (billa) taking the opportunity to attack. He was further quoted as saying that he had formed a government before with 90 seats in Parliament, and would do so another time.