Forward bloc exists in PTI: Maryam

PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz on Thursday said the no-confidence motion against the government was surely to succeed as a forward bloc in the ruling PTI had been formed.

“It’s a risk that should be taken,” the PML-N vice president told the media outside the Islamabad High Court where she appeared for the Avenfield Apartments case.

When asked if her uncle Shehbaz Sharif would set down as the PML-N president if the no-confidence move failed, she claimed that she was sure of its success as Prime Minister Imran Khan was “on his last legs”.

She said the judge had repeatedly asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor for evidence against her but the ant-graft body had sought four more weeks from the court.
 

“These people [NAB] could not present any evidence against me in the court. The court should not give so much leeway to NAB. The court gave the NAB prosecutor four more weeks to prepare. Justice delayed is justice denied.”

The PML-N leader, who is the daughter of party supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif, also said PM Imran should set the same standards for women that he wanted for his wife.

A couple of day ago, Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib had called out a recently published report that suggested that PM Imran’s wife Bushra Bibi was currently residing at a friend's place in Lahore after developing differences with the premier.

The minister had alleged that some quarters were peddling “fake stories” about the first lady and asked them to stay away from "cheap tactics such as dragging an apolitical woman into politics".

Maryam said the first lady was respectable to everyone but the standards should be the same for every woman.

“The standards that the prime minister wants for his wife should also have been shown for my mother [late Kulsoom Nawaz] when she was fighting or her life at a hospital [in London].”

Read Objections raised over Maryam's Avenfield acquittal plea

Some PTI activists, she added, had barged into the hospital where her mother was being treated just to take pictures of her.

“On my way back from the hospital [where Kulsoom was being treated), PTI activists, who were stationed under our apartment, hurled insults at me and our house was attacked.”

The PML-N leader said she was imprisoned in a death cell. “Am I not someone's daughter?”

Maryam said the nation would not forget what PM Imran had done with journalists Asma Shirazi, Gharida Farooqi and Sana Bucha.

“You must set equal standards for all women and now you must have the courage to tolerate criticism."

Maryam criticised the government for the treatment meted out to Islamabad-based media personality Mohsin Baig a day earlier. “The state institution has been used against a citizen. It is unfortunate that the state institution’s officials climbed over the walls of people’s houses.”

The PML-N leader said PM Imran had no problem when Baig was with him.  “Now that he has criticised Imran, he is being punished.”

Maryam also lashed out at the premier for the increase in fuel prices.

“The country is being destroyed every day under this government. In one swoop, you increased the price of petrol by Rs12 [per litre], which made everything more expensive. It's a shame.”

She further blasted PM Imran for attending an Olympics ceremony in Beijing at a time when soldiers were embracing martyrdom in Balochistan.

Avenfield case

Earlier, the IHC, while accepting the NAB prosecutor's request for time for preparation, adjourned the hearing of Maryam and her husband Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar’s appeal against the verdict in the Avenfield Apartments reference till March 21.

Advocate Azhar Siddique told a two-judge bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani that the notification for his appointment as the NAB special prosecutor had been issued a day earlier and he wanted a period of four weeks to examine all the relevant records of the case.

Maryam’s counsel Irfan Qadir said the high court had asked NAB a question and the proceedings would not take long if the anti-graft body submitted the response to that query. Qadir added that he wanted NAB to have the opportunity to prepare well for the case.

“We had always wanted to take this case to a logical conclusion at the earliest,” he said, requesting the court to direct NAB for early conclusion of arguments in the case.

The NAB counsel said the case was not just related to two documents, adding that he had a lot to say but would not at this point.

Qadir claimed that NAB had affixed irrelevant records with its application.

Read More: Bill Gates meets PM Imran during first-ever visit to Pakistan

The NAB prosecutor quipped that Maryam’s counsel wanted to give “a sentence to media” by making such remarks.

However, the court stopped the two lawyers from taking jibes at each other.

Maryam’s previous counsel, Amjad Pervez, was also present at the hearing. He said the case should have been concluded in 30 days as per the NAB ordinance.

“Amjad sahib, you were on leave because of illness,” retorted Justice Farooq.

“Such 30 days have come and gone,” he said, adding that initially, NAB had wanted the court to decide the case against the Sharifs in 30 days. “We had rejected that petition,” Justice Farooq added.