Tag: Maryam Nawaz

  • ’PDM is not Shahid Khaqan’s bonded slave’: Kaira

    ’PDM is not Shahid Khaqan’s bonded slave’: Kaira

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is not Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s personal slave or bonded labour that he can impose his views on the Opposition alliance.

    Kaira was talking to anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada on Geo News’ programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath’.

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said he would quit PDM if PPP was allowed to rejoin the Opposition alliance unconditionally.

    Kaira also said that while Shehbaz Sharif is making efforts to unite the Opposition, Shahid Khaqan was tearing it apart.

    Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday said Shehbaz Sharif’s dinner had nothing to do with PDM.

    PPP leadership also urged Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to take back his words against the party.

    Fazl on Tuesday said the PPP and the Awami National Party (ANP) could rejoin the PDM if they apologie to the Opposition alliance for going against its decisions.

    Fazl said both the PPP and ANP had been given sufficient time to get back to the PDM leadership, but they have not done so.

    “There are currently no proposals to invite PPP and ANP at the PDM meeting on May 29,” Fazl said. He added that during the upcoming PDM meeting, the Opposition leaders will decide the future of the PPP and ANP in the alliance.

  • Why doesn’t Maryam Nawaz drink lassi?

    Why doesn’t Maryam Nawaz drink lassi?

    Despite being told that how can one be Lahori and not drink lassi, PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz says that she doesn’t drink the heavy yoghurt drink. She was asked whether she was ‘having lassi’ by someone who tweeted a picture of her holding a silver glass.

    To which she responded and said, “I wish I could have it everyday but I have to watch my weight so coffee only”.

    After her tweet, another follower commented that being Lahori and not having lassi is a crime.

    to which she responded and said, “Isn’t it?”

    This is not the first time Maryam has expressed her love for chilled drinks. She tweeted in 2013 that she loved the “tang of diet coke”, and in 2019 Imran Khan’s ex wife Reham Khan criticised her former husband for not letting Maryam Nawaz have diet coke when Maryam was in jail.

  • ‘Shehbaz Sharif’s dinner had nothing to do with PDM’: Maryam Nawaz

    ‘Shehbaz Sharif’s dinner had nothing to do with PDM’: Maryam Nawaz

    PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday said her party president Shehbaz Sharif’s dinner had nothing to do with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). Shehbaz held a dinner on Monday for Opposition leaders, including those from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP).

    “He hosted the dinner as the leader of Opposition, as they had to devise a strategy for the budget session,” said Maryam. “Shehbaz Sharif is the Opposition leader [in National Assembly]. He hosted the dinner for parliamentarians. My presence was not needed,” she said when asked about her absence from the dinner.

    Maryam said PDM had not received any response from the PPP regarding the party’s return to the alliance. She said that when the PPP addresses PDM’s concerns, the alliance will deliberate over the matter.

    Meanwhile, PDM Secretary-General Shahid Khaqan Abbasi stated that there was no place for the PPP within the opposition alliance until it restored the trust it had broken.

    Speaking to the media in Islamabad, the PML-N leader said that  the opposition alliance was formed for a particular purpose. “If you are not committed to the movement, then there is no place for you within the PDM.”

    “The PPP can’t just rejoin the movement. They can only do so once they restore their trust in the PDM. The alliance does not have a revolving-door policy that you break its trust, leave the movement and try to come back again when you face difficulties,” added Khaqan.

    “The door is closed. The door will only open when you rebuild trust,” he said.

    Maryam Nawaz’s media talk

  • Maryam, Shehbaz condemn alleged attack on Nawaz

    Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif have condemned the alleged attempted attack on former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif by unidentified men. As per details, masked, unidentified men tried to break into the office of Nawaz Sharif in London after insisting that they had an appointment with him.

    The Metropolitan police said that a criminal case has been registered and they are looking into the complaint.

    “Strongly condemn cowardly attempt to barge into the office of Hussain Nawaz where Mian Nawaz Sharif was also present,” wrote Shehbaz on Twitter.

    “They seemed to be armed and clearly had a sinister design but thankfully, could not succeed,” he added.

    Sharif also requested the London police to “investigate the incident from all angles.”

    Referring to the incident, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said: “People’s voices will not be silenced by low-life third rate criminals.”

    “Nawaz Sharif is the voice of the people of Pakistan and will not be silenced,” the PML-N leader added.

    In a separate tweet Maryam hinted that the people who played with the life of her father during his arrest are behind the attack.

    Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communications Dr Shahbaz Gill asked Maryam to apologise for her false allegations, adding that the incident was related to a car fraud and took place on Thursday. Gill further alleged that the incident was planted to stop Nawaz’s deportation from UK.

  • Maryam Nawaz: the next Prime Minister?

    In a programme on ARY News, ‘The Reporters’, journalist Sabir Shakir said that PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz will succeed PM Imran Khan as Pakistan’s next prime minister.

    “She [Maryam Nawaz] will become the next prime minister, in my opinion,” he said.

    “She can,” agreed Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain, another senior journalist who has critised PML-N in the past and has spoken in favour of PM Imran Khan over the years.

    Shakir said there will be a ‘break’ in the prime minister’s term, stating that he will lose the next general elections.

    “This is his first innings, he is learning how to play,” said Shakir. “Hence, he will lose first and will then emerge again stronger the next time,” he added.

    Another senior journalist, Arif Hameed Bhatti, said this was PM Imran Khan’s “first and last innings” as the prime minister of the country, adding that Maryam Nawaz can become the country’s next premier.

    Journalist Sami Ibrahim said that ‘politics demands performance’ and that giving lectures like Ibn Khaldun was of no use until rulers did not have any realization of the hardships that masses were facing

    Prominent journalists, who have been known for their pro-Imran Khan views over the past couple of years, think the prime minister will not be able to win the next general elections, making Maryam Nawaz a popular choice for Prime Minister.

  • Peace with Pindi? Nawaz Sharif’s Spokesperson tells all

    Peace with Pindi? Nawaz Sharif’s Spokesperson tells all

    Mohammad Zubair, Spokesperson to Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, claimed in a TV talk show that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has made peace with Rawalpindi. Zubair made this statement in ARY News programme ‘The Reporters’.

    Alluding to a rapprochement between the establishment and PML-N, anchorperson Sabir Shakir directly asked Mohammad Zubair about ‘sulaah‘ (rapprochement) with Rawalpindi. The PML-N leader confirmed to Shakir that there has indeed been a reconciliation.

    “All it will take is to pull the ladder away from PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] and the government will be in trouble,” added Zubair. He said that this is what the PTI fears.

    Zubair further added that the relations of PML-N with the army have always been good.

    PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has been targeting the establishment quite vocally. At a rally in Gujranwala held by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) last year, Sharif’s comments against army chief shocked Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

    Senior PML-N politician Javed Hashmi recently criticised the establishment in a video that went viral on social media. The PML-N has officially distanced itself from Hashmi’s comments by tweeting: “Javed Hashmi’s statement about the national institution is his personal opinion.”

  • ‘Thank you, Bilawal,’ says Shehbaz Sharif

    ‘Thank you, Bilawal,’ says Shehbaz Sharif

    Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari congratulated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday after a resounding victory by the PML-N in PP-84 by-election. In a statement tweeted by the PPP’s official Twitter handle, Bilawal Bhutto congratulated Sharif on PML-N’s win and also added that the “consistent wins by the Opposition show clearly how disillusioned people are with the PTI and its anti-people policies. The people of Pakistan continue to give their verdict against PTI, but the selected govt refuses to listen.”

    Shehbaz Sharif responded to this tweet by thanking Bilawal. “There is no doubt that the by-election results represent an overwhelming rejection of the anti-people policies pursued by the PTI government,” tweeted Sharif.

    The last few months have seen the leaders of the PPP and PML-N indulge in a war of words, both online and offline. In March, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz tweeted about a ‘substitute being fostered’, which some say was a dig at Bilawal Bhutto after Asif Zardari had asked Mian Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan during a meeting of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

    When Bilawal was later asked whether Maryam’s comment was about him, he said that if he wanted to comment on the PML-N’s vice-president, he would have asked his party’s vice-president to comment on it.

  • PML-N wins PP-84 Khushab by-poll

    PML-N wins PP-84 Khushab by-poll

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Moazzam Sher Kallu has won the PP-84 Khushab by-election with a significant margin. Kallu came out on top with 73,081 votes and retained the seat that was vacated after the death of PML-N lawmaker Malik Muhammad Waris Kallu in March.

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ali Hussain Baloch was the runner-up with 62,903 votes. Kallu’s margin of victory is 10,178 votes.

    PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the public and winning candidate Moazzam Sher Kallu. “The people of Khushab have rejected the wheat and sugar thieves,” Sharif was quoted

    Maryam Nawaz celebrated the Khushab victory on Twitter. She said “people in every city have declared Nawaz Sharif’s victory” and derided those who wanted to “minus Nawaz Sharif”.

    “Look at the works of Allah! Only Nawaz Sharif is left [standing], while everyone else has been cut out,” added Maryam.

    A total of eight candidates stood in the race. Besides the PML-N and PTI candidates, PPP’s Ghulam Habib Ahmed was in the running, as well the banned TLP’s Asghar Ali. The independents included Amjad Raza, Aurangzeb, Imran Haider Khan, and Ilyas Khan Azad.

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said in a statement that “no untoward situation of law and order has been reported at the polling station”.

    Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulated the President PML-N Shehbaz Sharif, for the win in PP-84 by-polls.

  • Bail granted to Shehbaz Sharif

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday granted bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif. The bail was approved by the three-member bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, Justice Alia Neelum and Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi. Sharif was first granted and then denied bail after a division bench issued a split decision on Sharif’s petition, sending the matter to the LHC chief justice for the nomination of a referee judge.

    Sharif was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a money-laundering case last year in September.

    Shehbaz Sharif’s son Hamza Shehbaz was released in February after spending 20 months in jail as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) probed money laundering accusations against him.

    While Shehbaz was incarcerated, a report in The News said that Maryam Nawaz, due to her hawkish stance, has gained popularity in the party and the public. Her control on the party is strengthened to such an extent that she has stopped “consulting him [Shehbaz] for political advice”.

  • ‘Dictator Maryam’ blamed for PDM’s downfall

    ‘Dictator Maryam’ blamed for PDM’s downfall

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president and key leader of the opposition alliance, Maryam Nawaz has been accused of having a “dictatorial attitude” that has also been cited as the reason behind the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) downfall.

    As per the details, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders travelled to Wali Bagh, the residence of Awami National Party (ANP) head Asfandyar Wali on Thursday and held talks with him and other party leaders on the evolving political situation in the country.

    The PPP and ANP are the two parties with which the PDM is having differences ever since ex-premier Yousuf Raza Gilani’s election as the Senate opposition leader — a move deemed as betrayal by other parties of the opposition alliance.

    The ANP has already announced to quit the PDM, saying the show-cause notices over voting for Gilani were an insult to the party.

    Briefing reporters after the meeting, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari and Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the PPP would take the decision of whether or not to quit the PDM at its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting scheduled later this month.

    They blamed the “dictatorial attitude” of Maryam Nawaz for the disintegration of the alliance.

    “The split in the PDM began with the issuance of the show-cause notice,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain said, adding, it was an insult to ANP and couldn’t be tolerated.

    Meanwhile, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said the PPP had proposed Maulana Fazlur Rahman as the PDM head but the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief adopted “a step-motherly attitude” towards the PPP. 

    “PPP is not subordinate to any political party.”

    He said that the PPP was ready for the “long march” to Islamabad and wanted to use resignations from the assemblies as the last option.