LAHORE: Terming the Karachi incident shameful and an attack on the federal government (federation), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Maryam Nawaz said on Friday that Imran Khan was not the government but a dummy occupying the office of prime minister.

She said this while talking to the media during her visit to a camp set up outside the Punjab Assembly by Baloch students who marched from Multan to Lahore for restoration of their scholarships and other academic demands.

Maryam maintained that Karachi episode showed who was actually running the government. "This event also proves Nawaz Sharif's stance that there was a state above the state in Pakistan and Imran Khan being nothing more than a pawn."

When asked about the inquiry into the incident, Maryam said in her opinion, there was no need for an inquiry as everything was already known. "There is plenty of video footage," she said. "The Sindh government was well aware of what had transpired; if there is an inquiry, it should be transparent so that the nation could know everything and the report should be made public."

Maryam said in a democratic set up, a notice should be taken by the government or the judiciary, no one else. No appeal should be made to others to take notice, she opined.

The PML-N leader reiterated her allegation that the police had barged into her room and violated her privacy. "They went against the law without any concern that I was in the privacy of my room with my husband," she said. "You broke the lock of my door. You had Safdar's arrest warrant, not mine. This was illegal and you will have to answer it. "What sort of a government treats daughters like this?"

To a query, she said "Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is not behind that incident as we respect each other."

Responding to different queries, Maryam criticised the PTI government over soaring inflation and bad governance and said the fight was among the "four elders" and Imran Khan should not jump into the matter for being just a sideline spectator.

She said they would not backtrack and get frightened; no matter how many cases the government was going to register against her. "Nawaz Sharif is present everywhere despite being not in the country; Nawaz is haunting them," she remarked.

She further said Asim Saleem Bajwa would have to appear before the court of law as his resignation from the office of special assistant to the prime minister was not enough.

Expressing solidarity with the Baloch students, she said the government must listen to the problems of students who were protesting on Lahore's Mall Road against abolishing of scholarship for 600-seat quota reserved for the youth from the province in the higher educational institutions of Punjab.

Maryam said those students did not belong to a political party, they were the future of Pakistan. "You [Imran Khan] may be incompetent but you can still try to do something for them and sort out the students' issues."

She said: "It was Shehbaz Sharif who had allocated the seats; Punjab is orphan without Shehbaz Sharif; Pakistan is orphan without Nawaz Sharif." Maryam said she would also raise the issue in Quetta during her rally starting from Saturday.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020