June 05, 2023
Firing a broadside at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice-President Maryam Nawaz on Monday said that an example will be made of the former prime minister who is "hiding in the bunker" for the May 9 events.
“The person hiding in the bunker will be made an example [for everyone],” said Maryam without naming Khan and his current residence — Zaman Park in Lahore — where he has been living since he got injuries in an assassination attempt in Wazirabad on November 3 2022.
She made the remarks while addressing a public gathering in Bagh, Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK).
Condemning the PTI chief for the May 9 attacks, the PML-N leader said that the Azad Jammu and Kashmir prime minister was "testifying against Imran Khan". She claimed that the AJK premier had identified the PTI chief as the May 9 attacks planner.
Maryam, while saluting the martyrs, said that those who desecrate the martyrs' monuments are not Pakistani — referring to the May 9 arsonists who vandalised Jinnah House and other military installations soon after the arrest of the PTI chairman in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.
She added that the May 9 incidents brought tears to the “eyes of the heirs of the martyrs”.
“Whoever treated the martyrs like this, the nation will not forgive them," she further said.
Maryam, the scion of the Sharif family's political dynasty, went on to say that the PTI chief sold Kashmir while sitting with former US president Donald Trump.
“Soldiers stand on the mountains and put their lives at risk for the homeland. Salute to those who sacrifice their lives for our safety,” she also said.
On the exodus of PTI leaders from the party, she asked the crowd where the PTI was, saying that it “went back to where it came from”.
“The party which made a plan to end Nawaz Sharif's politics is in crumbles. Those who used to say that they will make them cry are crying day and night,” the PML-N's stalwart said.
She added that the PML-N is standing firm today.
Pitching PML-N candidate Mushtaq Minhas to the voters, Maryam urged the people to support the candidate as he will build a hospital in the area.
Imran Khan — the former prime minister who was removed from power via a no-confidence motion in April last year, along with his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leaders — is facing a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry related to a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer.
As per the charges, Khan and other accused allegedly adjusted Rs50 billion — 190 million pounds at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the government.
They are also accused of getting undue benefit in the form of over 458 kanals of land at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, to establish Al-Qadir University.