Bring it Back
Siraj-ul-Haq of the Jamaat-e-Islami was quoted by Daily Express (24 February 2020) as saying that Prime Minister Imran Khan himself was worried that he could not run his two-person household on a Rs. 200,000 salary – and so people had been promised change (tabdeeli) but got only high prices (mehngai). The JI chief went on to say that Naya Pakistan was no longer acceptable, and he wanted the old one back (Naya Pakistan qabool nahin, hamein Purana Pakistan wapis chahiye).
Right back at him
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan, according to Daily Jang (24 February 2020), is of the view that the PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was daydreaming and that his talk of bringing down the federal government in six months was ludicrous (deewanay ki barr). She went on to predict that in six months, in fact, the PPP leader’s own rule in Sindh would end.
No rest for the PM
According to Daily Express (25 February 2020), PM Imran Khan claimed that due to the government’s measures, there had been a significant reduction (khaatir-khwah kami) in the prices of essential goods, especially vegetables. He went on to promise that he would not sit down to rest until the administration had identified and punished those who are causing ‘artificial’ price hikes (qeematon ke masnui izafa ke zimmedaron ki nishan-dahi aur inko sazaa tak cheyn se nahin bethoon ga).
Nothing better?
Daily Jang (28 February 2020) informed its readers that Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan had told Federal Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry that he had done the best thing by slapping a journalist (thappar maar kar behtareen kaam kiya).
Everyone’s Selected
Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed was quoted by Daily Dunya (01 March 2020) as saying that it was his challenge for anyone to disprove his view that Bhutto and other politicians were products of Gate Number 4 (mein challenge karta hoon ke Bhutto sameth beshtar siyasat-dan Gate Number 4 ki paidawar hein). He went on to say that Bhutto was Selected and so is Imran Khan – and that anyone who disagreed was welcome to debate him on this.