Our Correspondent
Bahawalpur
PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz in an address on Sunday at a Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally said that “Punjab has risen” and is “ready to take back its rights” which she said were “stolen” by the incumbent government.
At the start of her address, at Bahawalpur’s Seraiki Chowk, she conveyed to the supporters the salaams (greetings) of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and party president Shahbaz Sharif.
“I wonder what would happen if I were to redirect this storm, this sea (of supporters) to Islamabad,” she remarked.
She said the support by people today “shows that the government’s days in power are numbered”.
Maryam repeatedly asked the crowd to signal with their chants if they wish to see the government resign or remain seated in the “fake assemblies”.
The PML-N vice president said that Punjab was “taunted” for “not standing up for others” and other provinces would say that “unless Punjab stands up, things will not change”.
“Well listen here! Not only has Punjab risen, it is ready to take back the rights it has been robbed of. And when Punjab stands up, whose legs start shaking?” she asked the crowd. “The selectors and the selected can see that the people of Punjab have now stood up.”
Counting all the woes of the people due to the inflation, she said the International Monetary Fund, “to make matters worse”, has now “directed for the electricity prices to go up by 25%”.
“I feel your pain. Will the people of Bahawalpur make ends meet to feed their families, to pay their children’s fees, to pay utilities or pay for the treatment of the elderly at home?”
“This is why I want us to send this fake, incompetent prime minister packing who, after two-and-a-half years, has thrown his hands in the air to declare he does not know how to run the country’s affairs,” Maryam said. She said that “what to speak of chicken, no one will soon be able to afford vegetables even”.
“Your daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif feels your pain and this is what brought us to you all today,” she added.
Maryam asked whether the “storm of inflation” must be considered the “change” that was promised.
“Can we call this sea of incompetence, change? Can we call this flood of unemployment, change? Can we call the selling out of Kashmir, change? Can we call the selling out of national interests, change? Can we call the putting out of the fire that lights poor people’s stoves, change?” she asked, as she went on to also count other “prohibitively expensive” basic necessities of life.
