Maryam lashes out at PM after PTI’s loss in K-P LG polls

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan should leave the poor people alone and go home to save the bit of respect he has left, after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost in the first phase of the local government elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The PTI faced a setback in the LG polls as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) clinched the mayor’s seat in Peshawar-the previous stronghold of the ruling party. Maryam on Tuesday formally resumed her political activities by interacting with the media in Islamabad, after a two-week break as she was attending to her son’s wedding ceremony.

Talking to media after appearing before the Islamabad High Court in the Avenfield reference hearing, Maryam said that the same National Accountability Bureau (NAB) which was requesting daily hearing was now seeking adjournment. To a question about the Avenfield reference, Maryam said that NAB had failed to produce evidence against her before the court.

Further, she blamed the incumbent government for the soaring inflation in the country. “No leader will want to seek an election ticket from the PTI after the recent embarrassing defeat of the party in K-P.”
She said it was the first sitting government in the country which was losing elections one after another, adding that even the party’s own lawmakers were criticising the government during talk shows.

To another question regarding PML-N’s potential candidate to contest the seat of the prime minister in the next general elections, Maryam replied that the party had entrusted Nawaz Sharif to nominate the candidate. “The PML-N will decide who will be the most suitable candidate for the post when the time comes,” she said. However, she favoured PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, saying that it would be a pleasure for her to support her uncle.

Also read: IHC adjourns Avenfield hearing as NAB prosecutor falls ill

During her conversation over the phone with the newly elected PML-N MPA from Khanewal, Rana Muhammad Saleem, Maryam congratulated him on his victory. “God willing, the PML-N will win in the next elections,” she said. Saleem, who had contested the 2018 general elections from a PTI ticket against PML-N MPA Nishat Daha, thanked his new party for its full support. Saleem invited Maryam to visit Khanewal.

He said, “People of the area wanted you to visit Khanewal before the election, but you were busy with your son’s wedding.” He said that she should now find time to visit the area and address the party supporters and voters. In his reaction to the news conference of Maryam, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill conceded that the JUI-F won some seats in the K-P LG elections but the PML-N remained at the bottom of the list.

“The PTI is still the most popular party in K-P and will emerge as the largest party in the province after conclusive results of the LG elections,” Gill said, adding that the PTI would emerge as the largest party in the province after the final results of the LG elections. Gill said, "Yesterday, K-P was the home of PTI and will remain the home of PTI like Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan, Sindh, Balochistan and AJK."

He said in most areas, multiple candidates of the PTI were contesting the LG elections which resulted in division of party votes.

Coming down hard on the PML-N leader, he said Maryam was speaking the language of his uncle Modi (Indian prime minister) with respect to the K-P LG elections.