ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, on Tuesday, while rejecting any move of a deal with the power corridors, has said his party will not think of such an idea after waging such a long struggle. Talking to media outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC), where she came to attend the hearing of her appeal on Tuesday, Maryam said this government would never come back to power once its tenure ended.
Time will come when everyone will have to be answerable, she asserted.
Responding to a query on whether the PML-N had entered a deal with the government, Maryam remarked “Why do you people call everything a deal. This is an inappropriate question. Why will there be any deal? Are we mad to have a deal with those we are fighting against?” she questioned.
“We aren’t insane to strike a deal after waging such a struggle. We’ll get to terms with it when things settle down.”
She claimed there was intense infighting within the government and this would be visible once the general election approached nearer.
To a question regarding her absence from Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)’s recently held public gathering in Swat, she said, “There are no differences within PML-N. Nawaz Sharif has tasked me with [mobilising the party] for the AJK polls, so Shehbaz Sharif represented me in Swat’s gathering.”
“Shehbaz Sharif is my president and of the PML-N’s; his presence suffices for us too,” she remarked.
Maryam was confident that if fair elections were held, then the PML-N would emerge victorious in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Maryam warned that any rigging in the forthcoming elections in AJK will have far-reaching impacts; therefore, all such moves must be discouraged.
She said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government was based on the rigged elections.
“The results of rigging in the polls will not be good. Don’t try to steal the elections,” she said and added, “You get defeated even after abducting the polling staff.”
She further said: “Don’t come in the way of the people and their elected representatives.”
When she was asked to respond on the recent comments of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, she declined to comment and asked the reporters not to come up with this dated question.
Answering another question, regarding Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s recent statement of approaching Baloch separatists, Maryam said Prime Minister Imran Khan before trying to redress grievances of angry Baloch separatists, should first visit the often-targeted Hazara community.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had said he is mulling to hold talks with Baloch separatists, so that hostile elements, including India, could not use them to spread chaos.
“Baloch are as much Pakistani as you and I, and we should strive to keep them bonded with the country. Their reservations should be addressed,” Maryam remarked.
“They were calling for you but you had said at the time that you wouldn’t be blackmailed by bodies,” she said, while referring to an earlier protest by the community against the killing of their community members.
When asked about the government’s alleged backdoor contacts with Israel, she said, “I feel the same. A state’s foreign policy is not an individual’s policy.”
She further stated that foreign policy should not be viewed in light of the domestic political situation.
The PML-N leader expressed confidence that her party would win the polls, if they will be held transparently and independently.
She said that the end of PTI government has approached and once it is gone it will never return to power.
Responding to a question regarding failure of RTS system in 2018 general elections, she said that those responsible will be held accountable.
She also condemned the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s notice to senior journalist, Nadeem Malik, saying that the notices should be served to those who blackmailed late accountability court judge, Arshad Malik.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021