Daska's victory evidence of PTI's diminishing power, says Maryam

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz termed the PML-N's victory in the Daska by-polls as the first step towards change on Monday.

“Success has been pulled [right] out of the throat of electoral fraudsters,” the PML-N leader said while speaking to the media outside the Lahore High Court (LHC), where she had arrived for her pre-arrest bail hearing.

Commenting on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) defeat in Daska, she said, "It is evidence that both the government and its power was diminishing."

"Nawaz Sharif, while sitting in London, defeated the government and all its resources, while the people of Daska not only seconded the vision of their Quaid (leader) but also protected their votes," she added.

Read PML-N clinches much-hyped Daska by-poll with huge margin

"All state machinery including the prime minister and chief minister's resources and administrative powers were used and different development funds were offered to defeat the PML-N, but the efforts bore no fruit,” she maintained.

Maryam expressed gratitude to the people of Daska for coming out of their homes and voting for the PMLN’s candidate.

One thing, she added, is very clear, that it will be an uphill task for the PTI lawmakers to even start their election campaign in their constituencies once the government comes to an end.

On Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) role in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), she said the PPP's fate will be decided by PDM chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman.

Speaking of Jahangir Tareen, PML-N vice president said, "It is astonishing that Prime Minister Imran Khan was fully unaware about Jahangir Tareen when his aircraft, money and other resources were being used for establishing the PTI. Now, suddenly, he is being dragged into the sugar scandal."

On a question, she reiterated that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was an institution of political engineering being used to suppress the voices of opposition parties.

"When PTI’s Imran Khan fails politically in defeating the opposition parties, then NAB comes forward to protect PM Khan," she added.

Court proceedings

Earlier today, NAB told the LHC that it had not issued any arrest warrants for Maryam Nawaz in the said inquiry.

Read more Daska by-poll rigging: Sanaullah demands arrest of mysterious farm house owner

NAB’s special prosecutor Syed Faisal Raza Bukhari told the LHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, that the bureau did not want to arrest her.

The bench heard the pre-arrest bail plea in the inquiry that NAB had initiated against the PML-N leader in the 1500-kanal Jati Umra land case.

PML-N's counsel Azam Nazir Tarar implored that his client should be intimated about her arrest 10 days earlier so she could avail the remedy. The bench directed the NAB to intimate the PML-N leader about the arrest and adjourned the hearing.

Pre-arrest bail plea

According to the petitioner, the assumption of jurisdiction, issuance of call-up notices and proceedings in pursuance thereof are prompted by malafide intention at the behest of the present regime for political vendetta and considerations extraneous to law.

The call-up notice is general and vague and the same does not specify the fact, point, or nature of the allegation and its nexus with the petitioner who, admittedly, has never held any public office.

The petitioner prayed to the court to grant pre-arrest bail in the inquiry mentioned in the call-up notice issued by NAB.