Govt ‘working day, night to clear’ PTI’s mess

With the fate of the PML-N led coalition government hanging in the balance in Punjab, Vice President Maryam Nawaz, seen to be as a party heavyweight, entered the by-election political arena on Saturday, to canvass for Nazir Chohan, who until a few weeks ago belonged to the PTI.

It is said that politics is a game of opportunities, and nothing can describe it better than Maryam praising Chohan and other PTI defectors, who are now her party’s candidates, for “returning the mandate to the people of Punjab”.

Interestingly, not too long ago Maryam was seen naming and shaming turncoats and even asking her voters to besiege the residences of the leaders who had defected from her party.

Fully aware of how such a change in political position is turned into a montage and played on electronic and social media, she did try to address the issue, saying that these people actually left the government to join the opposition camp, which in reality was farther from the truth, as this defection was aimed at over throwing the PTI-led Punjab government.

She said she was running their campaign because they helped the PML-N get rid of the PTI government, Imran Khan, and Farah Gogi as well as for returning the stolen mandate to the people of Punjab.

Read more: People will now feel ‘real pain’ of inflation: Imran

Maryam, addressing a rally in PP-167 Green Town constituency, shifted the entire blame for price hikes, inflation, and load-shedding onto the shoulders of the previous PTI government, saying that it was their wrongdoing that brought the country to the precipice of economic meltdown.

“Nawaz Sharif’s (the PML-N quaid) heart bleeds to see the plight of masses due to back-breaking inflation.”

She said her government was fully cognisant of the distress people were in and was working day in and day out to get the country out of the crisis.

“The PML-N has done it once in 2012, when they single handedly ended hours long load-shedding and did away with inflation,” Maryam said, adding that she had directly come to the venue from a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who assured her that as soon as even a dollar in the rate of crude oil drops, he would bring the price of gasoline down in the country.

Also read: Imran challenges PM to ‘fix economy’

She swore upon God when she said that it was the PTI that was to be blamed for the rising inflation and tanking economy. “The PML-N is taking tough decisions to take the country out of these dire straits.”

She termed former prime minister Imran Khan agreeing to an IMF agreement wherein the conditions were tough as “bad”, saying that not honouring that agreement was “even worse”. “Now, the IMF is rubbing our nose on the floor, because they don’t trust us anymore.”

She accused Imran of emptying the national coffers. “If there was anything in the coffers, Shehbaz Sharif would have showered it on the people of the country,” Maryam, whose government recently increased salary and allowances of the government servants, said.

She claimed that Imran wanted to make Pakistan another Sri Lanka, which imports $3 billion more than it exports every year – main reason for it running out of foreign currency.

She said Imran wanted to take revenge from Punjab knowing that Punjab would never vote for him, which is why he did not construct any road, hospital or school nor did he give free medicines to the people.

She said the son of Imran’s first wife became a billionaire because he was given commission in every contract. “Imran Khan is against public transport but for himself he took a BMW worth Rs150 million from the PM Office. Imran terms the National Assembly illegitimate, but holds a different opinion about the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.”

Maryam asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of Imran’s election campaign, alleging that he claimed that he had resigned, but was drawing salary from the assembly.

She also applauded PML-N ticket holder from the constituency Mian Saleem for standing by the party.

Ticket holder Chohan said that this was and is PML-N’s bastion. “Imran Khan wasted 15 years of his life,” Chohan claimed, adding that the only person who could steer Pakistan out of these crises was Nawaz Sharif.