Staff Reporter Islamabad
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday termed the Broadsheet scandal as the biggest scandal in Pakistan’s history. Calling it a ‘fraudsheet’ she said Prime Minister Imran Khan cannot blame his agents for the wrongdoing when he knew about it.
Maryam Nawaz was addressing the supporters of Opposition parties, united under Pakistan Democratic Movement, outside the office of Election Commission of Pakistan here, against a ‘delayed’ verdict by the authority in the foreign funding case involving the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
“Why did [Prime Minister] Imran Khan attempt numerous times to influence the case and have its proceedings stopped when he, according to him, hadn’t done anything wrong,” Maryam asked.
“Why has the ECP been delaying the foreign funding case for the past six months,” she asked and added that the authority is responsible for having an ‘ineligible’ person ‘selected’ as the premier. “It was India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Israel who funded Imran Khan and that’s what the foreign funding is all about. How is it that [PM] Imran has only realized about the wrongdoing now when he has been caught,” alleged the daughter of the former prime-minister.
“How hard-earned money of masses was deposited in the British High Commission’s account which then led to a fake company taking it away?” she asked. Maryam Nawaz lashed out at the Election Commission of Pakistan and asked why the RTS system encountered issues in the middle of the voting process during the 2018 polls.
“It is the consequences of the ECP’s failure and silence during the polls that 220 million people of the country are suffering today,” she said. She further blamed the incumbent authorities for an unprecedented hike in prices of commodities owing to their unpreparedness.
She said the protest was being held on the Constitutional Avenue but “unfortunately there is no justice or Constitution in the country we live in”.
“Today we have gathered in front of the ECP office to remind it of its constitutional responsibilities, to tell the chief election commissioner that your institution is a constitutional institution and an institution of the people. This is the institution that the
Constitution has made responsible for respecting the people’s votes and this is the institution that had to get respect for the people’s votes,” she added.
Terming the PTI foreign funding case the “biggest fraud in Pakistan’s history”, she said although the cases against her father, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, were expedited and decided within days, the ECP had “only held 70 hearings” of the PTI case since 2014.
“Today the PDM and public asks you if you did not steal, then why did you try to stop the case 30 times?” Maryam said, addressing Prime Minister Imran Khan. She added that the premier had submitted six requests in the court saying the ECP could
not decide this case.
JUl-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the incumbent rulers will not find a way to escape when the Pakistan Democratic Movement will launch its long march against them.
“Those in power selected an ineligible person for the top slot and imposed him on the masses,” he said. “Those elements had the sole agenda of appointing him so they could progress with their plans.”
“This government doesn’t know how to run the country or its economy, and it is completely devoid of such abilities.” Fazl-ur-Rehman further said, “the incumbent rulers took foreign funds to come into power,” adding, “today’s protest is only a glimpse
of what will be happening later.”The JUI-F chief also announced a ‘large protest’ at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on February 5 against the PTI-led government on the sidelines of the rallies in support of Kashmiris.
“If the ECP still decides to support an ineligible government and its team, then we cannot have faith in the authority in the future.” He said, “We will continue to protest against this government until its dismissed.”
The Pakistan People’s Party veteran leader Raja Pervez Ashraf demanded that the prime minister be dismissed from power. “Authorities must bring those who take funds from abroad under accountability.”
