Opp will not let ‘coward’ Imran run away: Maryam

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sunday criticized Prime Minister Imran Khan and said “he is a coward” and added that the opposition will “not let him run away.” Maryam was addressing a press conference along with the Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz in Gujranwala ahead of the premier’s address to the nation in Islamabad. She said Imran Khan will be held accountable for using taxpayers’ money on public gatherings and criticised him for capitalizing on the religious card to gain political mileage. “This money was not your family’s. This was the hard-earned money of the people of Pakistan which you splurged on holding public rallies,” she said while lashing out at the premier, says a news report. Maryam added that the premier “deprived people of food, while inflation reached the highest levels in the country.” She also censured him for abusing the opposition leaders and delaying the voting on the no-trust motion, adding that when the premier was held accountable for his misdoings related to the foreign funding case, he used “every means to save himself.” Taking a jibe at the PTI’s ongoing jalsa in Islamabad, where the party has claimed to gather more than one million people in support of PM Imran Khan, Maryam said: “Your jalsa is titled Amr-bil-Maroof (enjoining good). Is snatching bread, flour, electricity, and sugar from the masses called Amr-bil-Maroof?” “Is misbehaving with people [opposition leaders] and calling them names Amr-bil-Maroof?” she questioned. Maryam also called the premier out for referring to Fazlur Rehman as “diesel” repeatedly and said, “Considering the rising pieces of diesel during Imran Khan’s tenure, he should, indeed, be labeled diesel instead.” Talking about the decision of the National Assembly’s speaker to delay the no-confidence motion session, she said Imran Khan was “violating the Constitution through the speaker.” Maryam said Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif was “a thousand times better than Imran Khan”. “How can you compare yourself with Shahbaz? When there were floods in Pakistan, he used to visit places while submerged knee-deep in the stagnant water,” she said. She also talked about the disgruntled PTI MNAs who had decided to jump ships ahead of the no-confidence motion against the premier. “Your own party members do not trust you, which has resulted in the no-confidence motion,” Maryam said. “Your party has broken up and your companions who used to run your kitchen have lost trust in you.” Maryam further added that if the premier believes Nawaz Sharif is hatching conspiracies against him all the time and is controlling all the affairs of Pakistan while living in London, then he should be “ashamed of his [governance skills].” “If you think Nawaz is in the driver’s seat regarding Pakistan’s affairs, you should resign and go home.” Hamza Shahbaz said PM Imran Khan’s “rhetoric of Naya Pakistan was nothing but a spectacle.” The PML-N leader also said that his party “does not believe in the umpire but believes in the people of Pakistan.” He claimed that when the 2018 elections were “stolen,” PML-N was the biggest party in Punjab at the time. “I have been receiving reports related to the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly already,” Hamza said. She asked PM to accept no-trust move and resign as even his ministers, allies had started jumping the ship. She said it was the premier who had eaten up flour, sugar, masses’ peace, and the country’s prosperity like a ‘rat’. Maryam said the premier was the biggest ‘rat’ who was ‘selected’ into power in 2018. She accused PM Imran of making attempts to delay the no-trust move through the National Assembly speaker. Maryam also took the premier to task for using his constant use of abusive language against the opposition. She alleged that the premier was using the ‘corruption card’ to cover his failures, as numerous scandals in his own government continued to surface. She opined that Imran was once again at the D-Chowk, terming it a ‘square-one’, not because of an international conspiracy but because of his ‘deeds’. The PML-N leader said PTI lawmakers and allies had already cast a ‘no-trust move’ against the PM and he should accept it. Commenting on the PM’s remarks about the ‘triumph card’, she said the only card Imran was left with was to step down, go home, parts ways with politics and leave the country. Regarding the ruling party’s foreign funding case, she said the prime minister was himself involved in corruption and wouldn’t evade the consequences with his cunning ways. She announced that Nawaz would return to the country as he was the “son of the soil”.