Mazari’s arrest sets off war of words between PML-N, PTI

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE:

The arrest of PTI leader and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari from outside her Islamabad residence on Saturday triggered a war of words between the PML-N and her party.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said no one was above the law and if the Anti-Corruption Establishment had arrested her, then they must have a reason to do so.

Addressing the PML-N’s social media team in Lahore, Maryam claimed that she was unhappy to learn about the development.

She maintained that the case against Shireen was registered during former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar’s government and involved the transfer of 800 kanals of state property to a “bogus company”.

“I was hearing on TV that the PTI is playing the woman card… that a woman had been arrested,” she said. Maryam told the PTI not to resort to the playing the woman card as she narrated her own past arrests and experiences.

“I didn’t play the woman card ... I was also a woman, someone’s daughter and was in jail for a baseless political case.”

However, she added that never had she complained of being oppressed just because she was a woman.

“Shireen Mazari should face the charges she has been arrested on and provide evidence to prove them wrong. If she succeeds in proving her innocence, I promise the nation that Maryam Nawaz Sharif will be the first one standing with her.”

PTI Chairman and former premier Imran Khan tweeted that Shireen was brave and fearless and if the government thought it could “coerce her through this fascism”, it had made a miscalculation. “Our movement is completely peaceful but this fascist imported govt wants to push the country towards chaos. As if sending the economy into tailspin wasn’t enough, they now want anarchy to avoid elections,” he claimed.

The former premier said the PTI would protest today and he would announce the date for the party’s long march to the capital after a meeting of the core committee tomorrow.

PTI Secretary General Asad Umar said party activists across the country would protest against Shireen’s “illegal detention” in the evening today.

PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry also said the party had called for countywide protest against the arrest of Shireen. He urged PTI activists to take directions from their local leadership and come out for protests at 7pm today.

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Former law minister Babar Awan claimed that the “shameless and showoff” government was proving by arresting Shireen that nobody was safe in their hands. He added that anarchy and civil war were the main targets of the current government.

PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar tweeted that Shireen was his neighbour and a dear friend.

“Her arrest is deplorable and [the] worst form of political oppression. People who have gone through it themselves and have cried foul in the past … why would they indulge or turn [a] blind eye [to it]?” he questioned.

“Things never seem to change in the land of the pure.” The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the Shireen’s arrest smacked of political victimisation, which had regrettably become an entrenched practice and was deplorable no matter which party was the perpetrator.

It added that the former minister was entitled to due process and the incident must be investigated immediately.