Maryam to spearhead PML-N's nationwide protest

Opposition decides to observe July 25 as ‘black day’

LAHORE/ KARACHI: Maryam Nawaz, the Vice President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), on Tuesday called for a nationwide protest to free former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from jail, and announced that she would personally lead the protest rallies across the country.

In a tweet, she said that the people’s mandate had been stolen and that they should fight for their right. The PML-N leader asked the people to join the protest and end the regime of a ‘selected’ government.

“Insha’Allah I shall be leading protest rallies across Pak that will not only ask for justice for Nawaz Sharif but demand rule of law, freedom of expression,end to manipulation of the entire system to punish public representatives, stealing people’s mandate, imposition of SELECTED,” she said.

Every Pakistani who wishes to live in a free, democratic and just Pakistan must join.
یہ وطن امانت ہے اور تم امیں لوگو https://t.co/FGBW0NqLtW

— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 16, 2019

“Every Pakistani who wishes to live in a free, democratic and just Pakistan must join,” the daughter of former prime minister added. She also wrote an Urdu verse, roughly meaning, this country is a sacred trust and you are its custodians. She also urged the traders to support her to rid them of the government. “I will also fight for you.”

Although she did not say when the protest rallies would start, but the PML-N later announced that she would address a rally in Faisalabad on Sunday. On July 7, she had addressed a rally in Mandi Bahauddin.

Also this month, Maryam had revealed a video that purportedly showed accountability court judge Arshad Malik admitting that he had been “blackmailed” into convicting Sharif in Al-Azizia reference “despite no evidence of corruption” against him.

Since then, she has been at the forefront of PML-N's allegations against judge Arshad Malik, who convicted Nawaz Sharif in the Al Azizia reference last year. She said that after the video, keeping Sharif in jail would be a crime.

Commenting on the removal of Judge Malik from the post of Accountability court, she tweeted that the judge had been sent back, but Nawaz Sharif was still in jail. “The Lion will come back,” she said, referring to the party election symbol. “O people! Raise your voice for justice.”

Meanwhile, addressing a news conference after hold a multiparty meeting in Karachi, PPP leader Waqar Mehdi said the anti-government alliance will observe a countrywide ‘black day’ on July 25 against alleged rigging in the July 25, 2018, general elections.

The opposition parties in the National Assembly also decided to hold a general convention on the same day outside the Mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Central leaders of the opposition parties will address the event. Conventions will also be held in other provincial capitals.

The participants of the meeting also constituted an organising committee for the event. Two members each from the PPP, the PML-N, the Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the Awami National Party (ANP), the National Party (NP), the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), the Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party (PkMAP) will be a part of the committee.

The PPP leader said that inflation, joblessness and poverty have increased immensely since the incumbent "selected" government was "imposed". He added that the July 25 general convention would become a milestone in the country's politics.