Nawaz was given the chance to contest in an election only once in 22 years: Maryam Nawaz

JALALPUR JATTAN, Dec 09 (SABAH): As political parties begin their election campaigns ahead of the 2024 polls in full swing, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Organiser and Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif hit back at Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), saying that she prays no one gets the same level playing field as her father Nawaz Sharif.

“If you want a level playing field like Nawaz Sharif, then you should see what level playing field he has been given [over time]. Do you want this level playing field?” Maryam Nawaz asked while referring to the PML-N supremo’s years in exile and prison.

In her address during the party’s youth convention in Gujrat district on Saturday, Maryam Nawaz said that Nawaz was given the chance to contest in an election only once in 22 years, while he lost his wife and mother during his time in jail and abroad.

Recalling the October 21 rally PML-N organised at Minar-e-Pakistan to welcome the three-time prime minister upon his return, Maryam said that she was tearful to see the homecoming of Nawaz, about whom people said, “his politics has ended”.

She said that the success of the rally showed that the people had pinned hopes for their future on Nawaz. Regarding the PML-N’s legal and political hurdles, Maryam said: “Nawaz’s political journey wasn’t easy”.

She said that the former premier spent 11 years in exile and he is still running pillar to post in courts due to “false cases”.

“There is no prison in the country where Nawaz Sharif hadn’t been jailed but when the nation had the chance to decide, they gave their decision in his favour,” she added.

Maryam said that doing injustice was easy but ending it is difficult in this country. She said that her father is getting justice at a snail’s pace but it is still being said that he is being favoured.

Firing a fresh salvo at PML-N’s arch-rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supreme leader Imran Khan, Maryam said that he was behind bars after telling so many lies.

“The one who is paying for his deeds, [I] don’t even want to take his name. Not Nawaz Sharif but his [Imran] own deeds have taken him to the place where he is now,” the PML-N leader said.

Without naming Imran, Maryam said that Nawaz was elected prime minister thrice but no alleged heist or corruption could be proved against him but the former PTI chairman did the biggest theft after becoming the prime minister once.

“The one who called Nawaz a thief was caught doing the biggest theft in history.

“He got the cabinet’s approval for a sealed envelope. He and his wife [Bushra Bibi] acquired lands through the Al Qadir Trust and when he was questioned, he came with a plaster on his foot and a bucket on his head,” she added.

She spoke about the ‘vision’ of Nawaz Sharif as, she said, he laid motorways, worked on CPEC and steered the country out of the energy crisis.

Talking about the PML-N supremo’s political journey, she said in the last 23 years, Nawaz Sharif spent two and a half years in prison and 11 years in exile.

She said despite the less opportunity given to him, the former premier had always served the country with utmost zeal.

The PML-N chief organiser added the people of the country had always chosen Nawaz Sharif over others as they have seen the progress achieved under his tenure.

She said it was shameful that a lot of public money was used for the sake of proving anything against Nawaz Sharif. Despite all these tools, he remained vindicated as he has not done anything corrupt.

Talking about the PTI chief, the PML-N senior vice-president said he (PTI leader) was behind bars because he was involved in corruption while leveling baseless and untruthful allegations against Nawaz Sharif.