Polls in the country will be held as per schedule whoever may have been behind the Senate resolution: Marriyum Aurangzeb

LAHORE, Jan 06 (SABAH): A day after the Senate resolution seeking delay in elections caused uproar in the country, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Information Secretary and former minister for information and broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb that polls in the country will be held as per schedule whoever may have been behind the resolution.

Talking to the media after appearing before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Saturday, the former information minister said that PML-N was the only party that opposed the resolution. “Elections will be on February 8 [even if] other parties cry or shout,” said Marriyum Aurangzeb. She also claimed that her party’s arch-rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was behind the resolution.

Marriyum Aurangzeb said the PTI under a well-thought-out plan first approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) and now moved the resolution in the Senate.

The former minister was referring to the petition filed by the PTI which led the LHC to suspend the notification of the appointment of ROs and AROs from the executive branch. The decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

“They remain quiet inside and then create a ruckus on the outside. We do not create drama outside the assembly,” she said about the PTI. In a jibe at PTI’s founding chairman Imran Khan, she warned him against issuing threats from the jail.

“The Pakistani people will not vote for them. The people of Pakistan want elections,” said Marriyum Aurangzeb. She also shared that the PML-N’s schedule for public gatherings will be decided next week.

Marriyum Aurangzeb said it was three-time prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif who never enjoyed a level-playing field.

Continuing with her arguments about the level-playing field, Marriyum mentioned how the PTI founding chairman has been getting relief from courts and reminded the media persons how the person who orchestrated the May 9 violence was greeted with remarks like “good to see you” in the Supreme Court by the then chief justice Umar Ata Bandial,

The PML-N leader said people knew who was responsible for the May 9 attacks on military installations and other important locations and they would hand over Pakistan to the ones who stood for May 28 [nuclear tests conducted by Nawaz Sharif government in 1998], adding that Article 6 should be slapped on those elements.

She also blasted the PTI former chairman over an article recently published in the Economist, in which he talked about “farce” elections and inflation as well as how he had “saved” Pakistan from “default”.

The PTI had pushed Pakistan towards default which the coalition government led by PML-N had avoided, she said, adding that rising prices were a PTI gift.

She also rubbished the claims that the PTI candidates’ nomination papers were rejected without any reason and called the narrative as a propaganda and lie designed to gain sympathy.

The PML-N was ready for polls and had become the first party to publish the list of candidates by sharing the names from Balochistan, Marriyum told reporters.