Maryam Nawaz will take charge when the time comes, former information minister Pervaiz Rasheed said on Monday. “Maryam will answer the call when she has to,” he said in an interview with a private television channel. There has been speculation that Maryam Nawaz, who was convicted in the Al Azizia reference, went silent after her sentence because her father, Nawaz Sharif, was seeking a deal with her. Negating the rumours, Rasheed asked why will Maryam leave the country? “She wants to complete her sentence alongside her father.” Maryam was released from jail on September 19 after the Islamabad High Court suspended her sentence. Rasheed remarked that the PML-N is not looking for an NRO. “Why would we want a deal now? Nawaz is already in jail.” After the completion of the NAB trial against Nawaz Sharif, the name of PPP leaders, Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto, and Murad Ali Shah, appeared in the JIT report in the fake accounts case. Since Bilawal Bhutto’s fiery speech on the occasion of Benazir Bhutto’s martyrdom anniversary, political pundits have been expecting the two opposition parties to come closer to fight what they say is their political victimisation at the behest of the security establishment. However, none of the leaders of these parties has yet said anything to the effect. Rasheed, too, trend a cautious line in the interview, saying that PPP will have to defend itself the way that PML-N had to in courts. “There is no need to come out on the roads when there are assemblies,” he said. On the political unrest in Sindh, Rasheed said that PTI has accepted to engage in horse-trading in Sindh. This was in response to PTI’s Khurram Sher Zaman’s claims that the party has enough numbers in the Sindh Assembly to form its own government in the province. “What’s the purpose of governor rule in Sindh when there is an assembly?” asked Rasheed. Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said, “He is on a height of 30,000 feet. If there is any turbulence, then his flight will come crashing down.” We will support them if there is any threat to the political system, he said. “We will not care about how we were treated.” Published in Daily Times, January 1st 2019