Says several PTI leaders in contact with PML-N to switch sides
Pakistan Muslim League-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz called out former prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday for criticising the Pakistan Army, saying that his criticism was for his own sake, unlike the PML-N’s.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad outside the high court, Maryam said the PML-N also criticised the army but “it was positive criticism”. She added that the PML-N wanted them to play their constitutionally-mandated role.
However, Imran is attacking the army because it was abiding by the Constitution, said the PML-N vice president. In an allusion to Imran’s comments that the establishment should make the “right decision” to prevent Pakistan from “suicide”, Maryam asked Imran about these “right decisions”. “What are the right decisions in your opinion?” she asked.
“Is it the decision to shut down the RTS system to help you win the election, or remain silent on your catastrophic economic policies, or help you take revenge on your political rivals,” she asked while referring to the former premier’s tenure.
“Imran believes that the army standing by the Constitution instead of him was wrong,” Maryam said, adding that army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was a “great general” when he was supporting him during the PTI government, but now he was being called “Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq” by the PTI chief. She claimed that Imran had always turned on his benefactors and supporters.
According to Maryam, Imran was desperate for power and he wanted to take revenge on the “state” for his failures in politics. She also took the former premier to the task for saying that Pakistan could “split into three parts”, saying nothing will happen to Pakistan but the party of the former premier itself would be split into 300 parts.
She added that Imran was the first politician who had talked about the division of the country. “Your logic is that when you are in power then ‘long live Pakistan’ but when you are thrown out of power then Pakistan was on the verge of breaking into three parts,” she chided.
The PML-N leader said the nation would stop Imran if he tried to drag the military into politics, adding that Imran will not be allowed to put the sacrifices of the law enforcement agencies on the altar of his politics.
Maryam said the PTI chief had not yet been touched despite his actions after the ouster, as he was still the “blue-eyed” politician. She added that Imran called off the long march and took refuge in Peshawar because he was “afraid” of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.
“He is not an inqilabi (revolutionary) leader but a zamanti (on bail) leader,” she quipped while referring to the protective bail Imran got from the high court in Peshawar earlier Thursday. Maryam also accused a private TV channel for siding with Imran and supporting his attacks on the state institution and the country. She alleged that the private media outlet was as much responsible for the current situation as Imran. She requested the media to “stop airing the speeches” of the PTI chief to save the country from his “fitna” (discord).
