Srinagar: While the outcome of the general elections in Pakistan has elicited a mixed response from the people of J&K with varied opinions being expressed by them, including through social media, their political leadership has sought to pick up main “positivity” from the win of former cricket star and Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan.
Former CM and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti tweeted, “Congratu-lations to @ImranKhan PTI on his victory. His hard work and tenacity won the day”.
Earlier on Thursday, she wrote on micro-blogging site, “It is heartening to know that the people of Pakistan have rejected extremist forces in the elections. That is the strength of democracy. One always gets to choose.”
Her political bête noire and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah too has been watching the Pakistani elections closely which is evident from his quickly sharing everything that interests him regarding Pakistan elections, including others’ tweets over the past few days. However, the former CM, who is one of India’s most twitter-savvy politicians, himself has not tweeted directly on Imran Khan’s victory, so far.
The people of the state, particularly Kashmir Valley, remained glued to TV sets on Wednesday when the polling was held in the neighbouring country and again on Thursday as unofficial results started pouring in. Many took to social networking platforms to express their views on the Pakistan elections and related developments.
This prompted Kashmir’s chief Muslims cleric and separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to tweet, “Elections in #Pakistan being keenly followed in Kashmir in spite of Govt’s recent ban on Pakistani News channels here. People in #Kashmir wish and pray for a strong and stable Govt there”.
