PML-N's Azma Bukhari lambastes Chohan for obsession with Maryam Nawaz's shoes

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly lawmaker Azma Bukhari of the PML-N on Thursday lambasted provincial information minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan of the ruling PTI for his obsession with PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz's shoes.

Responding to Chohan's press conference, Bukhari, who is also the information secretary of the PML-N's Punjab chapter, said: "Chohan, [it seems] you have been hired just keep tabs on how much Maryam Nawaz's shoes cost."

The PML-N leader also lambasted another PTI member, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill, saying it seems his duty was to be the master analyst on Nawaz Sharif's food.

"[And] it is now Fayyaz Chohan's duty to check what brand of shoes Maryam Nawaz wears," she said.

"Maryam Nawaz is getting on the nerves of this 'puppet' government," Bukhari said, referring to a term often used by opposition leaders to criticise Prime Minister Imran Khan's regime.

Earlier in the day, Chohan had censured the top PML-N leader, whom he repeatedly refers to as Maryam Safdar, and not Maryam Nawaz, the name she prefers.

"Anything Maryam Nawaz partakes in leads to the world laughing at her," he said. "[Former US president Barack] Obama's daughter works in a burger shop while Begum Safdar Awan wears shoes worth Rs250,000."

"The more Begum Safdar Awan speaks and the more she runs away, the more she will be disgraced," he added.

The Punjab information minister had also criticised the Sharif brothers, Nawaz and Shehbaz, saying the latter held a "strange" press conference yesterday.

"He said 'Imran Khan wants me to get arrested'. No, it is the requirement of the accountability process that you be arrested," Chohan stressed. "You're more a king, rather than a democratic leader."

Speaking about the former prime minister, he said that if PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif "can complete five years, then why can't Imran Khan?"

"Nawaz Sharif is not a suspect, he is guilty. He is a fugitive from justice. He destroyed Pakistan's economy," he said.

Chohan also criticised the opposition's "All Parties Conference (APC)", terming it an outcome of the "Fifth-Generation War".

The back-and-forth between Bukhari and Chohan has been going on for a few days.

On Tuesday, while responding to another one of the PTI leader's statements, Bukhari said: "We know that you people get nightmares now. Those who come into power through the back door never sleep peacefully."

"If you're not scared of the APC, why are you appealing and pleading? This drama of NRO and accountability has become quite old now," she added.

Bukhari also slammed Chohan over a public display of weapons.

"The PTI has been fighting a fierce battle for the past two days. The blue, red, and yellow horses are about to leave Imran Khan's side and only the parachuters will be left behind."