PM has lost his own members’ respect: Maryam

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday claimed that even though Prime Minister Imran Khan was in power, his own members did not respect him, while referring to PTI MNA Noor Alam’s recent speech in the National Assembly in which he had criticised the senior leadership of his own party.

Maryam further claimed that the PTI-led government only had a few more days in power.

"The sooner we get rid of their [PTI’s] incompetence, the better,” she told the media outside the Islamabad High Court premises.

Last week, a day after asking PM Imran 'tough questions' about the party's performance in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Alam had assailed the PTI government in the lower house of parliament for “ignoring” the province and demanded that names of top cabinet members, including PM Imran, be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).

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Maryam said the PTI-led government's performance "couldn't be termed bad, because there is no performance to judge".

"Inflation, unemployment, the Murree tragedy, are there any more issues not left to talk about," she added.

Further speaking of the recent Murree tragedy – wherein at least 23 tourists had died on the road of the hill station while stranded in their vehicles during a blizzard – Maryam demanded that Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid should respond to the incident as the government's spokespersons were "trying to hide its incompetence".

“Nawaz Sharif's party has gone through torment. Yet, after all the trials and tribulations, it is standing like a rock behind its leader. It did not break even after the concocted court cases initiated against the party,” she maintained.

Speaking about the IHC proceedings, Maryam said ever since the court had raised the question of her ownership, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had run away.

“The NAB prosecutor’s Covid-19 has lasted for too long and he has once again asked for adjournment. I am surprised that NAB had called for a hearing on a daily basis.”

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She said her father, PML-N supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif, would soon return to the country from the UK and the party would determine his time of coming back.

“Even today, Nawaz Sharif is the most popular public leader in the country”.

She said the country should be run according to law and Constitution.

“Every institution should work within its constitutional limits as the survival of the people and the country depends on that.”

Earlier, a two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, directed Advocate Irfan Qadir, the lawyer representing Maryam and her husband Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar, to examine NAB’s response to his client’s miscellaneous request to decide the appeal against the Avenfield reference verdict on new grounds and present his arguments.

NAB prosecutor Usman Rashid Cheema told the court that a fresh wave of Covid-19 wave had gripped the country.

The court inquired the NAB prosecutor that he had earlier contracted Covid-19 and how was he feeling now. He replied that he was in good health now.

Justice Farooq told Maryam’s lawyer said that NAB had submitted a long written reply to his client’s request.

The lawyer said that he had not seen the response yet.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing on the appeals till February 10.