KP local govt elections: Maryam Nawaz asks PM Imran Khan to go home

• "Imran Khan, leave the poor people alone. Save the bit of respect you have left and go home," says Maryam Nawaz. 
• "This is the first sitting government in Pakistan which is losing elections one after another," she says. 
• "NAB is now seeking adjournments," says PML-N vice president. 

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz has doubled down on her criticism of Prime Minister Imran Khan, demanding the premier step down and go home in light of the recent upset in the first phase of the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

Maryam Nawaz was interacting with the press Tuesday after appearing before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the Avenfield reference hearing. She blamed the ruling party for the surging inflation across Pakistan. 

"Imran Khan, leave poor people alone. Save the bit of respect you have left and go home," she said. 

Maryam warned the PTI leadership that no leader would want to seek an election ticket from the PTI after the recent "embarrassing defeat" of the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

"It is the first sitting government in Pakistan that is losing elections one after another," said Maryam Nawaz. 

She said that even the PTI’s lawmakers were criticising their government during talk shows.

Responding to a question about the Avenfield reference, Maryam Nawaz said NAB had failed to produce evidence against her before the court. “The NAB which was earlier seeking day-to-day hearings of the case is now seeking adjournments,” she added.

Answering a question regarding PML-N's potential candidate to contest the seat of the prime minister in the next general elections, Maryam said 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," she said, adding that it would be a pleasure for her to support her uncle, Shahbaz Sharif, if his name is nominated. 

'Tabdeeli ja rahi hai': Maryam takes a swipe at PTI after LG elections loss

A day earlier, amid the ongoing local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Maryam Nawaz had taken a jibe at the PTI for its losses, saying the change that the party had promised is approaching its end and that too, in a humiliating fashion.

"Change is not coming — it is going," she had written on Twitter, referring to the PTI's famous slogan "tabdeeli aa nahi rahi, tabdeeli aa gai hay" (change is not coming, it has already arrived).

The government has pushed 220 million people of the country towards "inflation, lawlessness, and incompetence," as a result of which the masses have been cursing the government, she had said. 

IHC adjourns Maryam's appeals till Jan 18 in Avenfield property reference

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of Maryam and her husband, Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar's case in the Avenfield Apartments reference till January 18 after they made an appeal to do so.

A division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhter Kayani adjourned further hearing in the case upon the request of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)'s prosecutor.

Maryam and her husband appeared before the court along with their legal team.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Farooq noted that NAB prosecutor Usman Ghani Cheema had submitted an application for adjournment as he could not appear today due to sickness.

The application said that Cheema had been suffering from fever since the past day and doctors had suggested him bed rest and quarantine.

The prosecutor said he was unable to travel and could not attend the proceedings today.

Maryam's lawyer Irfan Qadir Advocate said he had no objections over the adjournment of the case.

At this, the bench adjourned further hearing of the appeals till January 18. The Accountability Court had announced imprisonment sentences along with fines to Maryam and her husband.

The accused had challenged their conviction before the high court.