Daily Times

PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz taunted the government on Thursday, saying that those who were trying to break up the PML-N were themselves disintegrating.

Addressing a general council meeting of the PML-N, Maryam Nawaz thanked the party’s lawmakers for voting for PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gilani – the PDM’s joint candidate – during the Senate elections. Responding to allegations by government ministers that the Senate elections were rigged, Maryam mocked the government by asking whether the recent by-elections were also rigged or not. “With my head bowed in humiliation, I say that money did not prevail [in Senate elections]. Rather, the PML-N’s ticket prevailed,” a jubilant Maryam Nawaz said. “I pay tribute to all 83 parliamentarians who accepted Nawaz Sharif’s narrative,” she said. “Our parliamentarians observed discipline and voted for Yousaf Raza Gilani.”

Maryam said that the prime minister should not say that his lawmakers sold out, adding that everyone knew this was the first and last time PM Imran Khan had gotten elected to power. “You and your MNAs and MPAs know, you have no future and you have no party,” she said, referring to PM Imran Khan.

Referring to her father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as a “trendsetter”, Maryam heaped praise on him, saying that whenever he decides to do something, the PML-N supremo does so. “They say Nawaz Sharif’s narrative is too heavy for anyone to carry. The weight of Nawaz’s narrative was carried by the PML-N workers,” she said, adding that the slogan of “Vote Ko Izzat Do” was being accepted by people across the country.

The PML-N leader said that the prime minister knew, right from the very beginning, that he was headed for defeat in the Senate elections. She claimed that because the premier knew he would be defeated in the polls, he had tried to introduce ordinances and had “dragged the Supreme Court” when it came to the Senate elections. “Where was your democracy sleeping, when you and your selectors rigged the Senate elections a few years ago when Bizenjo tried to become the Senate chairperson and despite Opposition parties have more numbers, lost it?” she asked.

Maryam taunted the prime minister, saying that how could he seek a vote of confidence from his own people after accusing them of selling out for money. “Where will you secure the vote of confidence of the masses, who defeated you in the recent by-elections,” she asked.

Maryam said that whenever the upcoming polls are held, the PML-N will sweep them. She criticised the prime minister, telling him that “pride comes before the fall”. “What did you think, that the PML-N and Nawaz Sharif are without God? Didn’t you think about karma?” she asked.

Meanwhile, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Thursday called on Maryam Nawaz and discussed the PDM strategy for the times ahead.

Separately, PML-N general-secretary Ahsan Iqbal announced PDM would begin its long march against the incumbent government from Karachi on March 26. While addressing PML-N general council meeting in Islamabad, Ahsan Iqbal said that the long march will begin from Karachi on March 26 and caravans from all over the country will reach the federal capital by March 30. “PDM has decided that convoys from all over Pakistan will reach Islamabad on March 30 at 3 o’clock. PDM’s movement has entered into the final stage,” said Iqbal.