LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Maryam Nawaz continued her offensive against political rival and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, saying that the former prime minister was responsible for the fabricated cases against her in which she had to surrender her passport.
“The case in which my passport was kept was not a case at all,” said Maryam while speaking to reporters in Lahore.
“I was kept in detention at a day care centre for 57 days. After that, I was sent to Kot Lakhpat prison,” she said, adding that she spent four months in detention at a time when her mother was in the final furlong of her battle with cancer.
“He dares to say I got my passport back through an NRO (non reconiliation order),” she said referring to amnesty schemes in the past under which cases against politicians and public office holders were dropped in the past.
“NRO is when you your get the land regularised for Bani Gala, which is actually money gala,” said Maryam on the former premier’s residence in Islamabad.
She accused Imran of using NAB and its head retired Justice Javed Iqbal for personal political gains.
“There is no history of a women being arrested by NAB. There are no cells for women,” she said.
She said she spent three and a half months in prison under a fabricated case along with dealing with the Panama Papers case for six years.
She referred to Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, a former justice of the Islamabad High Court, who was removed from his post following a statement that intelligence agencies were trying to influence judicial proceedings.
“The Panama Papers case was for show so that Imran Khan could be brought to power,” said Maryam.
She added that she had not received any leniency due to recent amendments to Nab laws.
She called the return of Ishaq Dar, who left the country five years ago, a success of the current regime.
She said Imran had conspired to force Dar to leave Pakistan and said that his return to Pakistan - as finance minister - was a ‘resounding slap in the face of Imran Khan’.
She claimed that people within the PTI had told her that Dar was dominating conversation in their circles. “They are saying that the value of the dollar is going down, the rupee is stabilising, petrol prices were decreased and the economy is getting better,” she said. “They are worried that if Dar fixes the economy, then no body would bother with them.”
Maryam then turned on the issue of the so-called conspiracy that Imran Khan claimed was behind his ouster in a no-confidence vote.
“He lied about the cipher, talking about manipulating the minutes of the meeting,” she said, referring to the leaked audio tape in which Imran Khan is discussing the diplomatic cable with party leaders and how best to utilize for personal political gains.
She then cited a recent interview that Imran Khan had on ARY News, in which he told journalist Maria Memon that he had misplaced the cipher.
In his many public appearances, Imran has reduced the term ‘neutral’ to an abuse, she said. Neutral is often used to refer to Pakistan’s Establishment including the all-powerful army.
“Now that he is out of power, he finds their neutrality problematic,” she said. If they start treating Imran like a favourite as they did in the past and start changing his nappies, then Imran would be all praise for them.“
On the possible return of her father and three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif, who remains in London, she said that it required the submission of just one petition.
“Nawaz Sharif will decide when he wants to return.”
