NA-247 contestant Jibran Nasir praised for upright stance on Ahmediyya question

NA-247 contestant Jibran Nasir returned to the Twitter feed on Saturday-Sunday, this time with his upright stance on the issue of the persecuted Ahmediyya community. The candidate posted, “A voter tried to coerce me to declare Ahmadis as non Muslims & I made it clear that my politics doesn’t revolve around anyone217;s religion even if it cost me votes. We won’t compromise on principles & adopt populist narratives. Our politics is about equality, justice and development.” Subsequently, he posted a video to support his claim. Journalists Beena Sarwar (@beenasarwar) and Mehmal Sarfraz (@Mehmal) retweeted the post, praising Nasir for expressing tremendous amount of courage in the face of adversary. One of the major themes discussed in #GE2018 hashtag was attempts too incorporate religious rhetoric into election campaigns. Blogger Ahmad Waqass Goraya (@AWGoraya) retweeted a post that read, “Imran Khan has been visiting religious dwellings to gather support from the voters there. One of PTI217;s candidates has based his voting campaign on the fact that he belongs to the Shi’a sect. Where has his political program disappeared?” Posted with the text was a poster of PTI candidate Syed Ali Zaidi that said, “Ali kee nisbat se hai naam mera,” making a reference to one of the rightly-guided caliphs, Hazrat Ali. To top it all, Bilal Farooqi (@bilalfqi) posted a screenshot of PTI candidate Chaudhary Muhammad Nisar CheemaR17;s election poster that carried a photo of Chief of Army Staff Javed Qamar Bajwa looking over the candidate217;s face, a violation of the ECP217;s code. We also saw famous TV personalities using #Elections2018 to comment on voting preferences. @IamShaistaLodhi tweeted, “Will u still vote the same bcz ur abba chacha mamoun used to vote for them or will u bring the change? #Elections2018 #Pakistan.” In other news, twitter user Muhammad Umar Khan (@UmarKhanmai) posted a tweet with attachments of photos that showed a dilapidated university ground being used for Imran KhanR17;s election rally in Abbotabad. “Abottabad-Government Degree College no. 1 ground is nowadays declared certified jalsa ga. Look in the picture the devastated face of college building. Politics at the cost of educational insitutions…” On the other hand, PTI chairmanR17;s ex-wife Reham Khan (@RehamKhan1) posted a tweet with a picture of herself that read, “the woman who made them cry..”;. She also sidelined her ex-husband217;s party in a tweet that said, “it is encouraging to see the new emerging leaders Maryam Nawaz, Bilawal Bhutto use a soft tone, intelligent argument & polite language when speaking about their opponents. That217;s the way forward.” Pakistan People217;s Party (PPP) supporters and other non-partisan users shared news about law enforcement agencies stopping PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto217;s convoy from entering Uch Sharif. Supporters and members of the party used the hashtag #UchSharifBhuttoKa to register their protest. Senator Sherry Rehman (@sherryrehman) posted, “All permissions were duly taken but told that hi level police officials gave the order to stop @BBhuttoZardari217;s caravan, now on way to jalsagah. Am putting the Punjab Govt on notice that it217;s their responsibility to secure us and keep things peaceful #UchSharifBhuttoKa.” A Twitter user quoted Sherry Rehman in a post that showed officials standing in front of Bilawal217;s convoy. She stated(@SabaHyder1): “These actions are refreshing the bitter memories of dictatorship, says Sherry Rehman #UchSharif BhuttoKa.” Reham Khan retweeted Assad Zulfiqar Khan217;s tweet. The close ally of PPP posted, “DIG Arsalan Channer of the Punjab Police gave the orders to block @BBhuttoZardari from entering Uch Sharif. His brother Usman Channer is the candidate from PTI.” Lastly, Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) posted an update about the Avenfields reference on her official Twitter profile. The tweet stated, “summary of conspiracy against NS: disqualified on unclaimed salary on July 28, and on property he doesn’t own on July 6.” Published in Daily Times, July 9th 2018.