PML-N insists no redlines being crossed

The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday put up a strong defence of former speaker Ayaz Sadiq following his controversial statement regarding the release of captured Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman in March last year.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb criticised the official reaction to Sadiq’s statement in the National Assembly last week, insisting that the party leadership was not crossing any redlines.

And on the campaign trail in Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also came down hard on the government, saying that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was destroying state institutions due to its incompetence.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of ‘Sher Jawan’ in Lahore, Maryam Nawaz said that a federal minister had also given a controversial statement on the floor of the house, which was widely used by the Indian media against Pakistan.

She asked why the director-general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) did not talk about the controversial statement of the minister.

“Such acts of discrimination would create distance between the public and the state institutions,” she said.

Defending Sadiq, and also defending Nawaz Sharif’s anti-establishment narrative, Maryam said that if someone who respected “our constitution is called a traitor, then all 220 million people of Pakistan were traitors”.

Condemning the arrest of her husband in Karachi last month, she said it was “slavery” when an IG of a province “is kept in illegal detention and his phones are taken away from him and is forced to register an FIR” against Captain (retd) Safdar.

She told the participants to read the Constitution and then evaluate what Nawaz Sharif was demanding. “If even one demand is against the spirit of our Constitution and unconstitutional, then don’t support Nawaz Sharif,” she said.

During her speech, she also advised her supporters not to raise slogan against “uniform as they are custodians of our borders. She added that those who have stolen the mandate were responsible for all the ills including the recent surge in terrorism.

Sher Jawan was a rebrand of ‘Vote Ko Izat Do Pasban’ force recently created by the party. Earlier in the day, the party also held a meeting of its parliamentarians from Lahore to discuss the onslaught against the party in the backdrop of Ayaz Sadiq’s statement.

The meeting was chaired by Nawaz Sharif from London and attended by Maryam Nawaz, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Saad Raffique and Perveiz Malik. According to a provincial PML-N lawmaker, Nawaz Sharif once again reiterated that he would not compromise on his narrative.

Regarding Rana Sana Ullah’s statement, in which he had offered to hold dialogue to avoid confrontation, the MPA said that the party could hold dialogue with the establishment regarding the sanctity of vote but not with the PTI government.

The Punjab Assembly member also hinted that party MNAs and MPAs would submit their resignations on December 13 to their party Quaid. Several other leaders, however, denied the claim

MNA Perveiz Malik, also Party President of Lahore Chapter, said they discussed arrangements being made for the PDM final showdown in Lahore.

Separate y, PM L – N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the party, its supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and the people of Pakistan were not crossing any red lines rather they were drawing constitutional red lines.

“Until these constitutional red lines are made clear, the problems of Pakistan and its people will not end,” Aurangzeb said in reference to the statements of some federal ministers, who warned the biggest opposition party against crossing the state’s red lines.

The PML-N has drawn the ire of the federal government and the military primarily due to the recent speeches of former premier Nawaz Sharif delivered at the opposition rallies staged under a newly cobbled alliance — the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

She wondered as to what happened to the inquiry undertaken by the military into the arrest of PML-N leader Capt (retd) Safdar from a hotel room.

“It has been 14 days since the Karachi incident. The chief of army staff had personally said that the report would come in 10 days,” she said.

Bilawal in G-B

Meanwhile, addressing an election rally in Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan on Sunday PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the PTI-led federal government had destroyed every state institution due to its incompetence.

“The PTI government has increased unemployment and poverty. The government has destroyed every state institution,” Bilawal said. “All segments of society are protesting today. I am amazed by the lies that Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks in each of his speeches,” he said.

The PPP chief rejected the PTI government’s claim that it is purging society of corruption and claimed that it is only the PPP that can make anti-graft laws. The PPP leader said it was part of the PPP’s manifesto to facilitate common people.

He assured the gathering that after winning the upcoming polls in the G-B, the PPP will change the destiny of the people of the area. “If we can provide free health facilities to the people of Karachi and Sindh, we can also provide such facilities in the northern areas,” he added.

Bilawal said the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project was a game changer. However, the incompetent rulers, headed, were unable to understand the significance of the project. “If the PPP were ruling the country, the G-B would be the greatest beneficiary of it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2020.