Daily Times

In yet another instance of far-right and farcist forces providing fodder for one another, Tehrik-e-Labbaik’s Khadim Rizvi took up reports of a cartoon contest in Netherland during one of his press conferences in Karachi. He riveted hatred against the Netherlands in the hearts of his followers, and reminded them of his aggressive statement about nuking the country if he possessed an atomic bomb. Subsequently, TLP supporters have been using the #StopBlasphemousCartoons hashtag to show resistance against the anti-Islamic Dutch president, Geert Wilders. It appears, through tweets by Rizvi’s supporters, that the issue of blasphemy will continue to figure prominently in the TLP’s campaign for #GE2018.

And it is not just the far-right fringe, but the mainstream centre-right parties like the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, too, who are playing the blasphemy card in their campaigns. In a recent jalsa in Kohat, PTI chairman Imran Khan brought up the issue of changes to the Finality of Prophethood clauses in the Election Act 2017 to score a point against his rival PML-N quaid Nawaz Sharif.

Several social media users noted the dangers in the use of such rhetoric in campaign rallies. Al-Jazeera English-Web Correspondent Asad Hashim (@asadhashim) posted on Twitter, “PTI chief Imran Khan drags “blasphemy” into election, says: “In order to make the international lobby happy, [the PML-N] changed an oath on the finality of Prophethood, in secret.” Daily Times editor Raza Rumi (@Razarumi) tweeted in agreement with Hashmi, saying, “Brand new Pakistan. Lesson from history- stoking sectarian passions also burns you.”

What made the matter more complicated were a few controversial headlines posted by a local newspaper titled ‘Ummat’. Journalist Abid Hussain posted a picture of the front page of the newspaper with two controversial headlines in relation to the conviction of the Sharifs. In a classic case of yellow journalism pandering to the religious right-wing, the Ummat headlines referred to the Sharifs’ conviction and said that it was nature’s revenge for Mumtaz Qadri’s death. @AbidHussayn wrote, “And here it is, the Ummat front page. Headline is just what I expected them to come up with…” @AsadHashmi completed Hussain’s statement by posting a follow-up tweet, “..in which the daily Ummat, widely read across Pakistan, headlines the Nawaz verdict as the universe extracting vengeance for hanging Mumtaz Qadri.”

Also in the Twitter feed, Mohsin Dawar (@mjdawar), a leader of the Pashtoon-Tahafuz-Movement (PTM) who is also contesting the upcoming election as an independent candidate from North Waziristan, posted updates regarding the abduction of a social media activist, Hayat Preghal. He stated, “PTM social media activist @HayatPreghal is still in the illegal detention of the security agencies. PTM will record a massive protest against d extra judicial act of d security agencies at Haq Nawaz Park Tomorrow at 3 Pm, all the supporters of PTM are requested to join d protest.” In other tweets, Dawar has reported hindrances caused to his election campaign by security personnel. On July 5, he tweeted, “Pak Army is opposing our election campaign wd thr full might, I was denied a phone connection for my office and the Army is now stoping every passenger vehicle with my posters from entering civil colony and other government buildings but it won’t change public opinion. #Sharamnak”

In another tweet posted on July 4, he complained about structural hindrances for women to cast their votes in North Waziristan. He tweeted, “The polling scheme of North Waziristan NA-48 seems to b a deliberate effort to stop female voters from voting. The polling stations allocated to female voters in most of the cases r 7 to 8 km away from their homes and a wait for a thorough security checks will also come in d way.” A twitter user retweeted this post, calling for ECP to arrange proper polling stations for female voters across Pakistan. “Depriving women from casting vote is no election and it is rigging..” He asserted.

In the #GE2018 hashtag, most tweets were about the PTI’s announcement that it would release the party manifesto on Monday.

Published in Daily Times, July 8^th 2018.