What went wrong
Tahir-ul-Qadri was quoted by Daily Express (29 January 2018) as saying that the stage for the Mall Road protest was afflicted by the Evil Eye (nazar lag gaii) and that he was in the process of curing it when newer issues arose in the country.
Rana Sanaullah’s version
According to Daily Express (29 January 2018), Rana Sanaullah of the ruling PML-N remarked that Tahir-ul-Qadri had been acting like a villain from Punjabi films, but his show had turned out to be a flop and that he no longer had the courage to further confront the government.
Oracle of Rawalpindi
Sheikh Rasheed, according to Daily Express (29 January 2018), termed February as the month in which the politics of the Sharif family would end. He further stated that he did not see elections taking place in 2018.
Busted
It was reported by Daily Express (29 January 2018) that police in Qila Didar Singh arrested six people including a councillor for rowdy behaviour (hullar baazi) after they got drunk at a Mehndi event at a wedding. The police reportedly recovered imported (vilayati) alcohol from them.
A call for consistency
The ANP’s Asfandyar Wali Khan was quoted by Daily Nawa-i-Waqt (29 January 2018) as saying that it was unfortunate how one individual was cursing the Parliament while being a member of it. He called upon Imran Khan to display a sense of honour (ghairat) and resign.
A response to violent crime
Daily Express (30 January 2018) quoted the Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pervez Khattak, as saying that incidences of murder did happen (hotay rehtay hein) and that this was nothing remarkable (anokhi baat nahin hai), but that the media was exaggerating the situation (baat ka batangar bana raha hai). He added that it was his job to run the system and create institutions, not to run here and there.
Diplomacy
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh was quoted by Daily Nawa-i-Waqt (01 February 2018) as saying that Pakistan should not draw the wrong conclusions from India’s goodness (sharafat) and softness (narmi). He added that India was no longer weak, but had become a powerful country.
End of an episode?
When Sheikh Rasheed was asked about his resignation, according to Daily Nawa-i-Waqt (01 February 2018), he replied that he had changed his decision. He stated that the time for resignation had passed and there was no longer any need for it.
Eventually…
It was reported by Daily Dunya (04 February 2018) that leaders of the extremist outfit Karni Sena in India, having watched the film Padmaavat and that their opinion had completely changed. They now see it as celebrating the valour and sacrifice of the Rajputs rather than belittling them, and so the protests against the film were to be wrapped up.
On being investigated
When asked about being under investigation for misuse of a helictoper belonging to the provincial government, Imran Khan, according to Daily Jang (04 February 2018), replied by saying that he was very dangerous (khatar-nak) and bad (bura). Saying this, he got into his vehicle and left.
Reham speaks
According to Daily Jang (04 February 2018), Reham Khan stated that Imran Khan had hidden his marriage to her for 2 months, while denying it in public. She raised the question as to how a person who lied about his marriage could be Sadiq and Amin.