Daily Times

Former chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Marvi Memon spent a busy day on Twitter as she posted several tweets, defending her moves from one party to another throughout her political career.

Her tweets were in response to attacks by several non-partisan Twitter users what they said was her opportunism. On her official account (@marvi_memon), she posted, “Warning to PML-N trolls. Don’t push me. I have been very civilised and haven’t opened my mouth yet. Won’t be pretty, if I do. Despite all of what I have suffered.”

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hamza Shehbaz, son of former Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, also faced challenging questions. Journalist @Benazir_Shah posted, “@muneebfaruqpak asks Hamza Shehbaz: Aap koh jeep chalaneh ka shuk hai? Aap jeep chalateh hain?” Readers of the Tweet would be able to guess that this was a dig at the electoral symbol of jeep assigned to many independent candidates believed to be close to the powers-that-be.

The attempts by some hooligans to break into former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz’s apartment in London were also discussed under the #GE2018 hashtag. Journalist Syed Talat Hussain condemned the act aggressively, posting, “Lighting fires that will spread. This attack on Sharif family home deepens violent and hateful divide at home, sets a shameful precedent that will be repeated. Every leader’s home is now a target.” Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) said about the act, “Hooliganism and vandalism of PTI supporters in shape of attack on NS residence in London is strongly condemned.”

Also trending under #Elections2018 were comments about Nawaz Sharif and Mariam Nawaz’s announcement to return to Pakistan on Friday, the 13th. In what appeared to be an attempt at sarcasm, journalist Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNJ) posted, “In view of the demand from PML-N’s ‘self respecting leadership and voters,’ and to uphold democracy and rule of law, Maryam bibi has decided to bring along Hassan and Hussain Nawaz and Ishaq Dar in the same flight; all landing in Lahore on the 13th- Welcome!” @TalatHussain12 said about the matter, “Nawaz and Mariam return decision marks a decisive turn in a drama that has been happening behind the scenes for years. Turmoil and conflict and gloves coming off- that sort of thing.”

Lastly, trending under #Elections2018 was a humorous tweet by lawyer Osama Siddique(@DrOsamaSiddique) who stated, “This is what they mean by embedded journalists. Covering politics closer to the ground. #Elections2018 #journalism #Media #Pakistan #Punjab.” He posted a picture of renowned journalist Sohail Warraich on a donkey cart with a common man in what appeared to be a village like area.

Also on Monday, the ride-hailing app Careem’s promotional campaign for the Election Day led to outrage as many social media users took exception to its marketing team’s puns on popular phrases associated with different political parties and leaders. Careem team tweeted four images that said, “Ungli Uthao,” and used puns based mostly on PTI chairman Imran Khan’s famous campaign slogans. One of the four images read, “gaari aa nahi rahi, gaari agayi hai.” Another said, “kal bhi promo zinda tha, aaj bhi promo zinda hai!”

Various twitter users criticised the service for showing a bias in favour of the PTI chairman. @adnan73_siddiqui posted, “It isn’t your job to get people to the polling station, people can manage this themselves without you giving them the awareness. You are a business entity that has to follow certain ethics and corporate codes and not run any sort of political campaign.” Careem’s official account quickly posted a response through a tweet that read, (@CareemPAK): “We sincerely apologise for hurting your sentiments. Careem is politically neutral and our election taglines covered all popular political slogans. Our singular aim is to get everyone to the polling stations. #CareemForDemocracy.”

On Monday, the following hashtags related to the upcoming election remained in the top 10 trends: #Multanmainteerchalayga, #PTImanifesto, #Myidentitydolphin, #Captainsafdar, and #Avenfieldreference.

Published in Daily Times, July 10^th 2018.