Daily Times

As prime minister, Imran Khan turned the PM House in Islamabad into a den for blackmail, claimed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Friday, noting that videos recorded by Tayyaba Gul were used to blackmail the then-anti-graft body’s chief to lodge cases against the premier’s political opponents, a private TV channel reported.

While addressing a political rally in Sheikhupura, Maryam referred to the explosive testimony before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) by Tayyaba Gul. The woman, whose husband had been arrested, had approached National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal for justice but was then sexually harassed and threatened by the anti-graft body’s chief.

She had then approached then prime minister Imran Khan, seeking justice. Instead, Imran allegedly kept the video evidence and illegally detained Gul in the Prime Minister House for over a month. In her speech on Friday evening, Maryam said that when he took power, Imran had promised to turn PM House into a university for the public. Instead, she alleged that he had turned it into a blackmailing den.

“Imran used the videos to blackmail NAB chief to lodge cases against his political opponents,” Maryam said, noting that the number of cases against the PML-N leaders increased exponentially after that.

Maryam noted that even though Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ruled Punjab for nearly four years, the former prime minister struggles to recall even four projects that he built in the province for the benefit of the public. “Did Imran Khan complete even one project in Sheikhupura in the past 4 years?” She continued that a number of projects have been completed in just the past two and a half years.

He hurls pejoratives at Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz , Maulana Fazlur Rehman and I but he cannot tell the public four things he has done.

Noting that inflation and rising fuel prices was a major concern for the public, Maryam said that because of the agreements signed by Imran Khan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), prices of fuel and power had to be raised, resulting in inflation. “But when I met the people, I did not find that their love for us had diminished,” she said, suggesting that this was a fear the party had. “People know the high prices today are due to Imran’s agreements with the IMF,” she claimed.

“People also know who has helped drag the country out of crisis time and again and that is Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif,” she stated, adding that the party will once again drag the country out of crisis.

Maryam also accosted Imran for going to court against Hamza Shahbaz’s Roshan Gharana initiative, noting that instead of copying the model in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and giving relief to people there, Imran sought to deprive residents of Punjab. “Why should people of Punjab vote for you?” she asked, before answering herself that Imran wanted to appoint his wife and her best friend as chief minister of Punjab to loot the province’s resources.