Maryam snubs husband for going against party policy

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz has snubbed her husband Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar for deviating from party policy during an interview with a TV channel.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the senior vice president has made it clear that no party leader, including her husband Captain (retd) Safdar, should make any statement that goes against the party’s policy, adding that strict action would be taken against those who deviate from it.

Captain (retd) Safdar was reprimanded for going against the party, the sources said, adding that the chief organiser will soon release formal guidelines of the PML-N policy.

Earlier, in an interview with a private TV channel at Data Darbar in Lahore, Captain (retd) Safdar criticised the party’s policy.

He also said that he did not see his wife, who is considered to be her father Nawaz Sharif’s successor, becoming the prime minister of Pakistan in the near future.

To a question regarding PML-N receiving support from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) parliamentarians, including Raja Raza, the party leader said that regardless of the situation, one should not change his or her loyalty. He questioned the way they changed sides despite winning on the former ruling party’s ticket and voiced his opposition to it.

Read Imran is a failed experiment: Maryam

Regarding the party’s renowned slogan “respect the vote”, Captain (retd) Safdar said that the narrative was very strong in the past, but the party dishonoured it the day when it voted in favour of extending the tenure of former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

He added that the narrative would not work now as it had been buried.

When asked whether PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif was responsible for the political failure, he said that everyone, except Pervaiz Rasheed, who refrained from voting on that day, was “guilty”.

When asked why the party supremo did not oppose the extension, Captain (retd) Safdar said that Nawaz was “misled” and “defrauded”. He remarked that Nawaz should tell the public who convinced him to make this “wrong decision”.

During the interview, Captain (retd) Safdar also expressed regret over attacking the personal life of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

“Amongst our ranks, there are people who were caught up in ‘organising’ while others were caught naked. The dirt is everywhere,” he said, adding that “politics must be dealt with through politics”.