PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Friday said that PM Imran's efforts to portray himself as a ''political martyr" will not work as he is to blame for his predicament and not anyone else.
Speaking to party workers outside the PML-N Secretariat in Lahore alongside Hamza Shehbaz, Maryam urges party workers to join the PML-N rally that will head to Islamabad where it is expected to converge with marchers of the opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement.
She also paid tribute to PML-N workers for standing up to oppression, fake cases and political retribution while never faltering in their support for their leader Nawaz Sharif.
"Do you remember the lawyer's movement, when Nawaz Sharif left here with a handful of people. It swelled to over a hundred thousand by the time it reached Ichra [neighbourhood of Lahore]," she said while adding that she along with Hamza Shehbaz would participate in tomorrow's rally.
Addressing the premier, she said it was high time for him to go home as he was out of options. "You have only one card left and that is to give up politics altogether. Now, simply resigning won't work," she said.
She said it was Imran's policies -- and not any external conspiracy or opposition pressure - that would result in the incumbent's ouster. "It's the people who want you go to home."
She went on to say that PM Imran's call for people to step out will work. "But these people will step out to send you [Imran Khan] home."
In another broadside, she said it was unheard of for those in the government to loose the support of their lawmakers. She added that more and more PTI lawmakers were throwing their support behind the opposition.
"On one side is Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif, who despite being in the opposition, haven't had a single lawmaker defect. In comparison, despite being in power, Niazi is losing lawmakers right, left and centre," she said, adding any respectable individual would have accepted defeat.
"If Imran Khan had any self-respect, he would have gone home," she said, adding that instead the incumbent had resorted to threats and show-cause notices in order to coerce the dissident lawmakers into coming back to the PTI fold.
