ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down in the wake of his party’s clear defeat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s local government elections.
Talking to reporters here, she said that it is the first sitting government in Pakistan’s history which is losing elections one after another, adding that even the PTI’s lawmakers are criticising their government during TV talk shows.
“A respectable person would have said goodbye and left the office. In the future, there would be no people willing to contest elections on PTI tickets as it would come to be seen as a symbol of disgrace,” she maintained.
Terming results of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by-polls a “shameful and worst” indictment of the PTI, she said: “If he [the PM] was a respectable person, he would have said goodbye and left.”
“But, the opportunity is still there and it is valid to say today…leave the people alone and admit by saying I have failed and I cannot run this country. Save the bit of respect you have left and go home,” Maryam asked Prime Minister Khan.
She also advised those who would contest on the PTI tickets to go among the voters by wearing “helmets”, adding that it is because the people are angry at the PTI’s performance the way they have been crushed by the inflation, “historic incompetence and failure”.
She also maintained since the PTI was “incapable” of fighting the by-election in Lahore and got relief on technical grounds, adding that in Khanewal by polls the PML-N candidate defeated the PTI’s candidate by more than 10,000 votes.
To a question about the Avenfield reference, she maintained that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has failed to produce evidence against her before the court, adding that the NAB, which was earlier seeking day-to-day hearings of the case is now seeking adjournments.
When asked who would be the PML-N’s next candidate for the premiership after the forthcoming general elections, she said that that the party has entrusted Nawaz Sharif to nominate the candidate.
“When the time comes, the PML-N will decide who is the most suitable candidate [for the premiership],” she said, adding that it would be a pleasure for her to support Shehbaz Sharif, if he is nominated.
“Shehbaz Sharif’s relationship with me is like a father and a daughter. He is also the party president, he is the senior-most, but keeping this aside, I believe the party will take the decision when the time arrives,” she added.
“What can be of greater happiness for me than to see Shehbaz Sharif [as premier]? Everyone will be standing behind him. We will support him but the decision will be taken by the party when the time arrives,” she further stated.
To a question whether she believed the establishment had been neutral in the local body elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, she declined to make any comment on this, but added that no power in the world would be ready to support Imran Khan after his “poor” performance.
“The results are there. I cannot say anything [about the establishment], but I can definitely say that Imran Khan’s performance cannot be supported by any power in the world. He [Imran Khan] has been crushed by his own performance,” she further maintained.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021