Observer Report
Lahore
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said Friday that Prime Minister Imran Khan “is just a pawn and not our target.” She noted decisively that the incumbent, PTI-led government would be sent packing before the start of 2021.
Speaking to the media after meeting Baloch students staging a sit-in at Charing Cross here, Maryam said students “are the future of Pakistan” but those from “Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, [erstwhile] FATA, and Balochistan” have to protest after 600 of their reserved seats were taken away.
“They say Punjab is the elder brother but I say Balochistan is the elder brother,” she added.
As many as 40 Baloch students of the Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, had started their march from Multan on Oct 10 and reached Lahore on Oct 21.
Their charter of demands includes restoration of scholarships for the students enrolled at the BZU on the reserved seats for Balochistan and withdrawal of a fee collection notification issued in this regard.
Maryam termed it “shameful” that the government was “neglecting the future of Pakistan”.
“These students don’t belong to a political party, they are the future of Pakistan. You [Imran Khan] may be incompetent but you can still try to do something for them and sort the students’ issues.”
She said the Baloch students’ demands were legitimate and their right.
Terming the move one of “incomprehensible apathy and indifference”, the PML-N leader demanded the students’ quota be restored. “These students are demanding the right to education and no one has met them! “I am going to Quetta tomorrow, I will also raise the issue of students there,” she added.
