On Monday, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz claimed that the PTI government would be successfully ousted by January. This was just a few days before the opposition was scheduled to hold its first power show in a campaign aimed at ousting the government.
Pakistan opposition parties hold protest rallies against PM Khan https://t.co/APMNNSlhcT pic.twitter.com/a93SNTm9Us
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 25, 2019
Maryam criticized PM Khan’s government by saying that the PML-N had not been subjected to such atrocities even during the government of General Musharraf when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was in exile. “I don’t even recognize this government. This government does not deserve to be called a government,” she said in an interview channeled on live television. Maryam said the incumbent government was neither constitutional in spirit nor did it have any legal basis.
PM Khan is “handpicked”, says Sharif
Referring to PM Khan as a “handpicked” person, Maryam said he did not care about the people. “The handpicked one is only concerned with himself and always wants to silence his opponents,” she said. “The handpicked one does not concern himself with the masses.” She said the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was the need of the hour and had been established after public pressure against the measures of those in power.
Reiterating her stance that there was no division in the PML-N, Maryam said party President Shahbaz Sharif “had a different approach” and that had been the case since a while. “Shahbaz Sharif is like a father to me,” Maryam disclosed. “I do not see him as any different from my father. There is no rift in the PML-N, and the entire party stands behind Nawaz Sharif,” she claimed.
Read More: Fawad Chaudhry urges Opposition to postpone public gathers for three months
Maryam further added how over the years, “several people talked about a split in the party but Sharif brothers remained united and Shahbaz always stood by his brother. Shahbaz went to jail because he did not leave his brother alone,” she said.
“The Sharifs have always been on one page and will continue to remain so. Those who have tried to cause a rift between the Sharif brothers have always failed.” Maryam said she had no differences with her uncle Shahbaz, adding that he had his own way to deal with issues.
The PML-N vice president rejected allegations that her father, Nawaz Sharif, was a traitor. She said the questions he was asking needed to be answered. “Mian sahib’s narrative is exactly the same as Quaid-e-Azam’s,” she said. “The questions that Mian sahab has asked do not amount to treason.”
She said her father was not against the national institutions but strictly opposed transgression. When inquired about Nawaz’s health, Maryam responded that her father would return to the country after his heart surgery and if his doctors allowed him to. “Nawaz could not have been treated in any hospital in Pakistan,” she said. Sharing her thoughts on the FIR registered against the PML-N leadership, she criticized the move to include Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Farooq Haider in it.
PM Imran Khan says government will not hinder Opposition’s rallies
Last week, the federal government decided not to create hindrances in the Opposition’s upcoming rallies. The first one of these rallies is scheduled to take place on October 16 in Gujranwala.
The decision to allow the opposition rallies to take place was taken during a meeting chaired by the prime minister which was attended by several PTI leaders. According to Dawn’s sources, PM Imran Khan said: “Peaceful protests and rallies are the Opposition’s right.”
They will not be allowed to spread hatred in the name of protests, added the prime minister. Criticizing the antigovernmental movement set to begin from October 16, the premier said that the rallies and protests were to safeguard the interests of the political elite and that it was not powered by the people. “The people do not have any interest in Opposition’s ‘save corruption movement,'” he said.
Last week, the opposition parties’ alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM), had announced to hold its first public rally in Gujranwala on October 16. PDM leaders also announced a new schedule for anti-govt rallies across the country after differences emerged among the main political parties on the dates announced earlier.