Shahbaz Sharif’s Arrest Plunges Twitter into Divisive Politics

2018 so far has not been the year of the Sharifs. Neither has 2017 for that matter. From Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification in 2017 to the consequent arrest and jailing of him and daughter Maryam Nawaz in a NAB corruption case, all the way to Shahbaz Sharif’s latest arrest, things have been more than shaky for the family. Not to mention the unfortunate demise of former first lady Kulsoom Nawaz while the father-daughter duo was in jail. It was a painful culmination of a terrible year. Former Punjab chief minister and current president of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Shahbaz Sharif has been arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at its Lahore office in the Rs14 billion Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme case. He is reportedly being held in a highly secure lock-up inside the NAB office until his appearance in court, which is scheduled for today.

Even if one wants to, the glaringly obvious similarity between Nawaz’s arrest months before the General Elections and Shahbaz’s mere weeks before the by-elections cannot be ignored. 

To that end, the PML-N leaders have called this arrest PTI’s revenge ploy. Nawaz Sharif while commending his little brother’s work as CM in Punjab, has stated that the arrest is the ‘worst revenge’ of the current government and that they should not put the blame of their own incompetence on Shahbaz. As usual, Twitter was flooded with thought-provoking responses. But there was no shortage of witty commentary either. Whether it is PTI’s #SaraTabarChorHai campaign or the simple #ShahbazSharifArrested commentary, the war is on.

Here are the top gems, both thought-provoking and some not so much, from this political debacle:

Happy Birthday, Khan Sahab? We think.

Umm, what? (for those who don’t know that’s a spin on Allama Iqbal’s infamous poetry)

Conspiracy conspiracy, everywhere.

Kudos to this guy for daring to use the theory of fascism in describing Khan’s government.

That is throwing some serious shade, perhaps at the recent Tareen verdict.

An opposition leader from the PPP, Khursheed Shah does have a point here. Lately, all PTI is doing is deflecting on their own 100-day plan.

All we can say is: Whoops!

     

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