Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz Friday questioned the judiciary for expediting cases against Nawaz Sharif and being lenient towards Imran Khan.
“Is anyone going to give a verdict against this criminal, or has that been left on the day of judgement to decide?” she asked while addressing a PML-N workers’ convention in Gujranwala. She criticized the judiciary and said that whenever she shows the institution the mirror, she is accused of contempt of court but no contempt occurs when Nawaz Sharif was disqualified “just for not receiving a salary.” “There is no contempt of court, no insult of judiciary when a man (Imran Khan) gets clean chit from court despite the fact that he lied on his nomination form despite the fact that he hid his daughter. When will you (judiciary) punish him?” she asked.
She said the party was fully prepared to contest elections in Punjab or any other part of the country. She said it was being propagated that the party were afraid of elections, but the reality was that they were ready to go to the hustings as she had already toured almost half of the Punjab province.
She was confident that the PML-N would win the general election with a thumping majority and exhorted the workers to gird their loins for the purpose.
Maryam said the people were well aware of the “negative politics” being pursued by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan.
She said it was an irony that injustice was meted out to PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif, who was sentenced for “not receiving a salary from his son and having an ‘Iqama’ (residential permit), while Imran Khan despite being proved a “culprit” was roaming free.
Apparently referring to the contempt of court notices issued to her recently, Maryam said the person who was not appearing before the courts despite repeated issuance of summons was, in fact, committing the contempt of court.
She said when ousted from the prime minister’s office through a vote of no-confidence, Imran Khan made a false narrative that his government was toppled under a conspiracy hatched by the United States citing a cipher. But today, he was holding meetings with the US officials at his Zaman Park residence, and “begging” them to get his relations restored, she added.
She said Imran Khan’s ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’ [court arrest movement] had flopped even before it was kicked off. How come it was possible that the leader was busy filling his own pockets through ‘loot and plunder’ while sitting in the comfort of home, and forcing his party workers to “fill jails”, she remarked.
Referring to a leaked audio of alleged conversation between PTI leader Chaudhary Fawad Hussain and his brother Faisal Chaudhary, she mocked that the PTI should now get the election symbol of ‘truck’.
She said Imran Khan, who destroyed the economy after being imposed on the country as a result of the ‘Panama conspiracy’, had the audacity to question the rising dollar-rupee parity.
Maryam said Imran Khan was a “mentally disturbed person” and the PTI members of the National Assembly had tendered their resignations due to his ego, and now they were trying their best, one way or the other, to get back to the parliament.
The PML-N leader praised the people of Gujranwala, saying that they were the first who had realized that Imran Khan was “the biggest fraud of the country”. They had always supported Nawaz Sharif and his candidates, and they would again vote for the PML-N in the next election, she added.
Maryam spoke about the end of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s political career. “Imran Khan is done and dusted. He has reached his end,” the PML-N scion said.
She questioned why the PTI chief’s “facilitators” wanted to save a person who had “already drowned”. “I want to ask the facilitators why they want to save a person because of whom the country’s fate has sunk. That person drowned himself, but why are you people bent on [losing] your jobs?” she asked.
Taking a jibe at the PTI’s ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek (court arrest movement)’, the PML-N politician said: “The Jail Bharo movement never took off. How did they suspend it? When the leader is sitting in ‘Zamanat Park’, why would workers want to fill the jails?”
Maryam, when referring to the case filed against her for “insulting state institutions” in her speech, said that they – without naming anyone – have a problem with what she said but aren’t concerned about the contents of audio leaks of PTI members and allies – including former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi – that have surfaced in the last several months. She named Elahi, PTI Punjab leader Yasmin Rashid, and Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry and asked if it was her speaking in their audios.
“Now don’t say that the truck you parked outside the court was driven by Maryam Nawaz,” the PML-N leader said while referring to the violent protests by PTI workers at the Islamabad judicial complex as their party’s chief appeared in the capital’s different courts to secure bail in cases registered against him.