Daily Times

LAHORE: Female workers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Wednesday held a demonstration in favour of Maryam Nawaz, daughter of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

They blocked the road in front of the Lahore Press Club for half an hour and chanted slogans in favour of their leadership as well as against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its chairman Imran Khan.

Led by the party’s women wing leader, Nargis Mateen, the PML-N demonstrators were carrying banners, placards and party flags to show solidarity with their leadership.

More than three dozen of the party female workers and some of the male workers participated in the demonstration, while several elected councillors and female leaders from different union councils of the city, including Naseem Bano, Sumera Rajpoot and Safia Ishaq, were also present.

Addressing the gathering, Nargis Mateen said that Maryam Nawaz had set an example of supremacy of law after appearing before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to probe alleged money laundering by the Sharif family.

She said that anti-Pakistan elements were creating hurdles in the way of progress of the country but they would not succeed in their “mission”. She said that only the Sharif family had completed development projects in the country and termed them more patriot than others.

In a separate statement, MPA Hina Pervaiz Butt said that the PML-N leadership appeared before the JIT for strengthening of democracy. She said some people wanted to take revenge from Sharif family.

“The JIT of people will kick out all conspiracies in 2018,” she added.

The prime minister, she said, would continue serving the people. She said that Maryam Nawaz – being the daughter of the premier, would counter propaganda.

She said that opposition wanted to fail development projects launched by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Maryam Nawaz Wednesday appeared for the first time before the Supreme Court-sanctioned Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the Sharif family’s business dealings abroad.

She was accompanied by her husband, brothers – Hassan and Hussain – State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, PM’s Special Assistant Asif Kirmani and female capital police officers.

A number of PML-N workers, especially from the party’s women wing, also turned up near the Federal Judicial Academy to show support for Maryam.

Published in Daily Times, July 6^th , 2017.