PM Imran Khan still has a chance, he should resign: Maryam Nawaz
ISLAMABAD, Dec 21 (SABAH): Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz Sharif has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan still has a chance, he should resign. She added that Imran Khan used to reiterate that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a stronghold of PTI; he also earned disrespect from there. “No power on the earth can support Imran Khan’s performance” she said.
While talking to media persons after her appearance in the Islamabad High Court in Avenfield reference case, Maryam Nawaz said that there was a time when NAB was requesting a hearing on a daily basis and today it was seeking adjournment. Commenting on the defeat of PTI, Maryam Nawaz congratulated Maulana Fazlur Rehman on his victory in KP. She added that the result of KP local body polls was owing to poor performance of PTI and that there would come a time when no one would ask for a ticket from PTI. Maryam Nawaz also advised PTI ticket holders to wear helmets as PTI ticket had gone a sign of disgrace.
The Vice President of PML-N noted that PTI had suffered a humiliating defeat in every district of Lahore, Khanewal, Peshawar and KP and that it was the first ever government to lose one election after another.
Maryam Nawaz asked as how PTI could win when its own MNAs didn’t support it. She emphasized that worse time was about to come to Imran Khan would undergo more suffering shortly.
She noted that Nawaz Sharif’s native country was Pakistan and he would surely come back. She added that it was an enough punishment for Pervez Musharraf that he was remembered as a dictator. Moreover, Parvez Musharraf himself witnessed Nawaz Sharif being elected Prime Minister third time, she added. “Pervez Musharraf himself had said that Nawaz Sharif has become history, adding that today Pervez Musharraf could not return back to Pakistan.
The PML-N vice president also congratulated the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for his party’s “tremendous performance” in KP local government elections held in 17 districts of the province on Sunday.
Responding to a question about whether she believed the ‘establishment’ had been neutral in the KP local body elections, Maryam Nawaz said: “The results are there. I cannot say anything about [the establishment] but I can definitely say that Imran Khan’s performance cannot be supported by any power in the world. He has been crushed by his own performance.”
Regarding reports that PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif would be declared the PML-N’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2023 general elections, Maryam said the decision would be taken by the party when the time arrived. “Shehbaz Sharif’s relationship with me is one of father and daughter. But he is also the party president, he is the senior-most [official] but keeping this aside, I believe the party will take the decision when the time arrives.”
The power to make that decision had been placed in former prime minister and PML-N supremo Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, she said. “What can be of greater happiness for me than to see Shehbaz Sharif [in power]? Everyone will be standing behind him. We will support him but the decision will be taken by the party when the time arrives,” she added.
Meanwhile the Islamabad High Court (IHC) adjourned on Tuesday the hearing of Maryam Nawaz’s appeal against her conviction in Avenfield case on the request of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after its prosecutor, Usman Ghani, fell ill.
The petition was filed by NAB’s prosecutor in Islamabad during the hearing of Maryam Nawaz’s appeal against her sentence.
According to the petition, the prosecutor had a “high-grade fever with excruciating body aches and pains” and experienced a “loss of smell and taste”. Therefore, he was advised not to travel and “observe bed rest” as the symptoms were similar to those of Covid.
He was “unable to travel, personally attend and assist” the court on the hearing date. The petition requested that the court adjourn the hearing.
A two-member bench of the IHC headed by Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani heard the case and accepted NAB’s request for adjournment.
Maryam Nawaz, Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar, Junaid Safdar and PML-N party leaders were also present in the court.
Maryam’s lawyer, Irfan Qadir Advocate, and NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Ahmed Khan Abbasi also appeared in the court.
Justice Amir Farooq maintained that Sardar Muzaffar should have informed Irfan Qadir earlier. However, the prosecutor maintained that he found out about Cheema’s ill-health on Monday evening. “The symptoms sound like Covid. May God bless him,” Irfan said. The court adjourned the case till January 18.