LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz has said that there will be no clash of “principles” as long as “institutions” would work under their legally-defined role.
“Nawaz Sharif is the son of this country and every institution is his institution, but he always talk about the principles and he would continue to do so. If institutions would work under their (legally) defined role then they will be respected,” said Maryam while addressing a press conference alongside Punjab Opposition Leader Hamza Shehbaz in Gujranwala on Sunday.
This stance from the daughter of the self-exiled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif comes a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan alleged that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif would return and launch a malicious campaign against the judiciary to divide it and attack the army, as well. According to the PM, Nawaz will be helped by the media and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
“I want to clarify that you (PM Imran) are not the target of any foreign conspiracy but actually your own lawmakers are turning against you owing to your bad governance,” Maryam Nawaz told the premier, adding that the dissident PTI lawmakers are “sensible” people, who know that general elections are coming and they would be answerable to their voters.
Without naming anyone, Maryam said that among those who openly expressed their lack of confidence in PM Imran’s leadership are his close aides who used their private jets to persuade politicians to join PTI (before the 2018 elections) and who even footed his “kitchen expenses”.
People have shown PM Imran the 'red card': Maryam Nawaz
She said that PM Imran’s own “loyalists” are expressing lack of confidence in his leadership and he is terming it a “conspiracy” of foreign forces. She pointed out that the incumbent PTI government lost 15 out of 16 local bodies elections which indicate that the PTI has also lost the public confidence. “No one, including parliamentarians and the masses, wants to see you (leading the nation) so why are you still resisting leaving?” she asked the PM.
She said the PML-N’s “anti-inflation march” should have been named “Radul Fasad March”, a popular operation launched countrywide by the Pak army some years ago to eliminate terrorists.
She also fired a broadside at PM Imran for calling the opposition leaders ‘mice’, saying it was the premier who had eaten up flour, sugar, masses’ peace and the country’s prosperity like a ‘rat’. She also accused the PM of making attempts to delay the no-trust move through the National Assembly speaker.
She claimed that the premier used taxpayers’ money to organise his party’s rallies and said he should be held accountable for the same. “It would have been better had the government spent these expenses on providing relief to the people, who are living a miserable life today,” she said, adding that PM is playing a “religious card” to exploit public sentiments.
The PML-N vice president also took the premier to task for using his constant use of abusive language against the opposition, adding that the premier was using ‘corruption card’ to cover his failures, as numerous scandals in his own government continued to surface.
Commenting on the PM’s remarks regarding the ‘Triumph Card’, Maryam said the only card Imran was left with was to step down, go home, parts ways with politics and leave the country.
Regarding the PTI’s foreign funding case, she said the prime minister was himself involved in ‘corruption’ and wouldn’t evade the consequences with his cunning ways. She claimed receiving calls from the people of Islamabad who told her that the PTI supporters were making announcements on loud speakers in the streets, urging the citizens to come out of their homes (in support of PTI’s public gathering) if they love the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
She said that on the one hand PM Imran Khan raises the slogan of “Amr Bil Maroof” while on the other hand he uses foul language against his political opponents by calling them “rats” and “diesel”. “Is this the conduct of Amr Bil Maroof?” she questioned.
“Have you (PM Imran) forgotten the LNG, sugar and pharmaceutical scams?” she asked and deplored that the prices of medicines, particularly life saving drugs, have gone up by 600 percent since the PTI came into power.
According to Maryam, the prime minister on the one hand emphasizes that there should be one law for both the poor and powerful but on the other hand he accuses the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of being a puppet of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif when it issues notices to him.
Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz paying rich tributes to the party workers and supporters for their warm reception in Gujranwala termed the “Sehat Heath Card” initiative a “drama”, saying that most of the hospitals are refusing treatments to patients on these cards and people have to buy medicines like Panadol from their own pockets.
He said that a tsunami of masses is coming to the federal capital which will drag PM Imran Khan out of his Bani Gala residence and held him accountable for his fake promises of giving hundreds of millions jobs besides others. He said the corps of martyrs are demanding strict accountability of PM Imran who has buried this atomic country under the foreign debts.
“Today, expenditures of the armed forces are also being endured through borrowing,” he claimed and said: “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
“You (PM Imran) would say you will commit suicide but will never approach International Monetary Fund (IMF), but now people are committing suicide due to hunger and skyrocketing inflation,” he said, adding that the no-trust move against PM Imran would be successful.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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