Tag: Maryam Nawaz

  • ‘Imran govt received loans worth Rs15,000 Arab’

    ‘Imran govt received loans worth Rs15,000 Arab’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz has accused the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government of seeking whopping Rs15,000 Arab (Rs15,000 billion) in loans while “not laying down a single brick, and launching only failed projects”.

    “The [government] took loans of Rs15,000 billion but did not lay a single brick,” Maryam reportedly said while addressing a rally in Wazirabad as part of the election campaign for PP-51.

    Alleging that the metro bus project started by the PTI government had also failed, she asked the crowd whether any of them had gotten a job from the 10 million jobs promised by the government or a house from the 5 million houses pledged at the start of its regime.

    She said the government had accused her of playing the “Punjabi card” after she raised her voice for the province, but said she would continue to speak for Punjab as well as other provinces being “the daughter of Pakistan”.

    “But when it comes to snatching Punjab’s bread and aata and rise in the price of Punjab’s sugar, Maryam will stand with Punjabis with her heart and soul,” she said.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Maryam, speaking in Urdu interspersed with Punjabi, said farmers, labourers, daily wage workers, traders and businessmen were all frustrated today and could not afford basic utilities and food items.

    She called upon the “selectors” not to “make the mistake” of helping to bring the PTI into power again, saying: “I feel bad when people bad-mouth the selectors because after all, the institution is ours.”

    “The country has been worn out but my dear selectors, don’t do this with Pakistan again,” she said, referring to the PTI coming into power. “Do your own work that the Constitution has assigned to you, don’t interfere with people’s work.”

    Although things are broken, Maryam said, “Nawaz Sharif will come and everything will be fixed.”

    The PML-N leader alleged that electricity in the country was expensive because “those financing Imran Khan’s expenses deliberately imported expensive LNG”.

    The PML-N leader asked the administration of Daska and Wazirabad to serve the people and the law instead of the premier.

    “I say to Wazirabad police and administration […] I know that you yourself are frustrated [but] the nation is looking at you; if you instead of serving the country and the people try to serve anyone else, try to steal the vote and make a lost person win, then remember, Imran Khan came once but now at least Punjab won’t let him come [to power] again.”

    She said the next government in Pakistan and Punjab will be “of Nawaz Sharif”.

  • Kaira leaves TV show after host calls Maryam, Bilawal ‘immature’

    Kaira leaves TV show after host calls Maryam, Bilawal ‘immature’

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Qamaruz Zaman Kaira walked out of a TV show after a minor argument with the show host Ehtesham Amiruddin and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry over their criticism of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz.

    During the show, Fawad termed the politics of Maryam and Bilawal “immature” and called them “kids” who were playing politics. “They have no idea of the Pakistani politics,” he said, adding both political parties have no future in the country.

    At this, Kaira, who had joined the show via telephone, clapped back at Fawad, saying he’s calling Maryam a “kid” when she is older than him. At this, Fawad said he meant that Maryam was not an experienced politician.

    Kaira responded that she might have more experience in politics than Fawad Chaudhry. Kaira also criticised the PTI for being a party of trolls. He said they resort to trolling in response to criticism against their party or to damage the stature of the opposition leaders.

    Fawad rebutted Maryam and Bilawal have no political standing and it was unfortunate that people like Kaira have to defend them. “Don’t worry, they are very good politicians,” Kaira responded.

    At this, the TV host tried to clarify, saying that what Fawad wanted to say was that both the PPP chairman and PML-N vice president were “politically immature”.

    Irked by the interjection, Kaira told the host that he didn’t need him to speak for Fawad as he knew very well what the PTI leader meant. “I understood what he meant… more than you,” Kaira told the host.

    The host then went on to say that he too agrees with Fawad that statements by Maryam and Bilawal that criticise the army were a sing of “political immaturity”.

    Kaira responded that the anchorpersons are supposed to moderate the shows, not give their “judgements”. At this, the host said it was not fair that his opinion was being considered as judgement, while Kaira can give his opinion without any problem.

    However, the things continue to go south and Kaira eventually left the show by disconnecting the telephone call.

  • Maryam accidentally tweets picture of Khadim Rizvi’s welcome, mistaking it for her own

    Maryam accidentally tweets picture of Khadim Rizvi’s welcome, mistaking it for her own

    In yet another faux pas, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has accidentally retweeted, and then deleted, a picture of welcome of the late Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) leader Khadim Rizvi, mistaking it for her own in.

    As per the details, Maryam retweeted the picture of Rizvi’s welcome at the anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore, falling for the claim that the rose petals-covered roads were from Daska where she arrived on Saturday ahead of a by-election in the NA-75 constituency.

    The election on February 19 comes after the seat fell vacant following the demise of the PML-N’s Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah.

    “Alhamdulillah,” Maryam had written while retweeting the picture that can no longer be found on her Twitter.

    It wasn’t later when people, especially members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), pointed out what was wrong with the tweet.

    Earlier, Maryam said that the by-election in Daska was not just an election but a “battle”.

    The PML-N has given ticket to late MNA Shah’s daughter Nosheen Iftikhar.

    In her speech, Maryam blamed the government for rising inflation in the country.

    “When their ministers are told that inflation has increased and people are dying of hunger, they say decrease your expenses,” the PML-N leader said, referring to Information Minister Shibli Faraz’s recent statement.

    She added that the government had promised to create 10 million jobs in Pakistan but not a single man in Daska got any job.

  • ‘That’s why he prayed for Modi’s victory’: Imran accused of receiving funding from India’s BJP, Israel

    The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership has accused Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan of receiving funding from India and Israel, as Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has also drawn a link between the claim and the premier hoping Narendra Modi won the 2019 election to become his Indian counterpart.

    Ahead of the Indian general election, Imran had expressed his wish for Indian hardliner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win the election as “they were more prone to holding dialogue with Pakistan”.

    Addressing a protest demonstration in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday, Maryam demanded that PM Imran came clean if there were no skeletons in his closet.

    “Imran Khan received funding from India and Israel in his own and in the bank accounts of his friends, and through ‘Hundi’ also,” she added.

    Maryam further said that one of the BJP leaders, Andarjeet Dosal, and an Israeli person transferred funds to Imran’s accounts that he used to operate with his own signatures.

    She said that having received funds from the BJP, Imran prayed for victory of Narendra Modi in 2019 elections and was hopeful of his success.

    Now, she maintained, Imran was saying that he had no knowledge of transfer of funds and the same was done by some agents. “Either he is foolish or trying to make a fool out of the people.”

    The PML-N leader said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) disclosed 23 secret accounts of Imran he used to operate with his signatures, and the same were kept secret from the ECP as well.

    PM Imran should also tell as to who were the agents who brought him in power and imposed him on 220 million people of Pakistan, Maryam said, alleging that the ECP scrutiny committee denied releasing facts about the case because Imran did not permit it. “The one who called us thieves turned out to be the biggest thief himself,” she added.

    She said that a long list of Imran’s crimes came to light before the ECP’s scrutiny committee, but it had been instructed to go slow on him and that was why the scrutiny committee had been investigating the matter for three years.

    Maryam said the shocking revelations should have prompted a decision within three days. “During the 80 hearings of the case, Imran sought a stay of proceedings 30 times, requested four times to keep the proceedings secret, and also moved the high court six times while challenging authority of the ECP,” she said.

    Maryam said the public knew who imposed him on the people. “Pakistan has changed now and you cannot commit dacoity on the votes of its people anymore,” she added.

    She said now that Imran had confessed to his crime, ECP should announce the punishment for him.

    PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman also severely criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, and repeated the allegations levelled by the PML-N leader. “Imran Khan is an agent of Jews and he contested elections while using funding from India and Israel,” he claimed.

    Fazl said he had always told the people of Pakistan that Imran Khan was a Jew agent.

    Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the Imams of mosques in Islamabad had refused to receive Rs10,000 per month stipend from the government, adding those might be Indian and Israeli funds. “Those are Hindus and Jews who are supporting the Imran government,” he added.

    The PDM president said some institutions had brought the country to such a bad state of affairs, saying the ECP was facing severe pressure and was serving its own interests.”

    “Those powerful selected a fool person so that they should actually rule while sitting behind the scenes,” he added.

    Other leaders of the anti-government alliance also delivered fiery speeches against the current government setup.

  • Tensions run high as PDM remains undeterred on protest outside ECP amid terror threats

    Tensions run high as PDM remains undeterred on protest outside ECP amid terror threats

    Tensions are running high in the twin cities, especially the federal capital, as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) remains undeterred on plans to hold a protest outside the office of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the delay in the decision of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) foreign funding case.

    With security around the ECP being tightened to avoid any untoward incident, Geo News reports that the federal government has deployed two platoons of Punjab Rangers along with police personnel and sealed the election watchdog’s main entrance with barbed wires.

    Walkthrough gates have also been installed in the Red Zone area for pedestrians.

    Leaders of the anti-government opposition alliance are scheduled to gather at Kashmir Chowk around 1 pm from where they will lead workers to the ECP aboard a container.

    Earlier, the PDM leadership met in Islamabad at the residence of Maulana Fazlur Rehman to review the protest strategy.

    Addressing the media after the meeting alongside Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice-president Maryam Nawaz, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief said the PTI foreign case could not be delayed any further and urged the commission to announce the verdict soon.

    “Decisions against elected prime ministers are given in a few months’ time but verdict against a selected premier has been pending for over six years,” he said.

    “Foreign funding case is the biggest scandal in Pakistan. Imran Khan has amassed millions in the name of party funds. He took the mother of all NROs to create political instability in the country,” he said and claimed that PM Imran used charity funds for personal business and to spread chaos.

    The protest will not be attended by PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari who is currently in Sukkur and plans to celebrate PPP’s win in the Umerkot by-polls.

    Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed has warned the opposition of creating a law and order situation. He has also said he “doesn’t want to scare anyone” but Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been on high alert since December 15.

  • Bilawal, Maryam urge PM to visit Hazara families, put ‘ego’ aside

    Bilawal, Maryam urge PM to visit Hazara families, put ‘ego’ aside

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz have urged the prime minister to accept the demands of the protesting Hazara community.

    The victim families have been protesting in the freezing cold of Quetta against the killings. The protesters have demanded a meeting with PM Imran Khan and the dismissal of the Balochistan government over the security failure.

    Speaking to reporters during his visit to the protest camp, Bilawal said that the PPP had dismissed its government in Jan 2013 after similar protests were arranged by the minority community over the killings of its members.

    “Then too, you had put forward your demands to us. We had even dismissed the [provincial] government,” he was quoted by Dawn as saying.

    Bilawal said he has no words to describe the pain of the Hazara families, adding that he would always raise his voice for the persecuted community. “Unfortunately, we live in a country where even the dead have to be dragged into politics,” he said, adding that “we live in a country where blood is cheaper than food.

    According to the PPP chief, at least 2,200 Hazara Shias have been killed in the past 22 years, but their killers have remained free.

    In a reference to the remarks by the PM that a foreign country was involved, Bilawal said that it is still a failure of the state if it has failed to stop a foreign conspiracy on its land.

    ‘EGO BIGGER THAN COFFINS’

    Meanwhile, Maryam Nawaz also spoke to the protesters. She chided the PM for having such a “big ego” that he cannot even feel the pain of these people. “All they are asking is that you come here and condole. Is your ego bigger than those whose coffins are laying here,” she remarked.

    She called the PM “shameless” for ignoring the plea of the Hazara Shias, saying she was not in Quetta to play politics on the issue. “It is your job to visit these people,” said Maryam, asking Imran to empathise with the protesters. “You are a parent yourself, trying to understand their pain,” she urged the PM.

  • Bilawal, Maryam to visit families of slain Hazara miners

    Bilawal, Maryam to visit families of slain Hazara miners

    The opposition leadership, including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, will visit the families of the Hazara coal miners who were killed in a sectarian attack in Mach, Balochistan, last week.

    The families of the slain miners are protesting for the past five days against the killings on Quetta’s Western Bypass. They have refused to bury their dead till the in person security assurances from the prime minister. But the PM has refused to visit, saying he will come to condole with them very soon.

    In a statement, Marriyum Aurangzeb, the PML-N spokesperson, confirmed the visit of Maryam to Quetta on Thursday. She said the PML-N VP will visit the victim families to express condolence on behalf of PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif.  She will be accompanied by PML-N leaders Ahsan Iqbal, Senator Pervaiz Rasheed, Khurram Dastgir, Rana Sanaullah, Marriyum Aurangzeb, and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair, the statement said.

    On the other hand, Bilawal will visit the Hazara mourners along with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and members of the Sindh Cabinet. The PPP chief will offer condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in the attacked claimed by the Islamic State.

    On Wednesday, the PM had asked Hazaras to bury their loved ones, saying the state was taking measures to put a stop to such attacks against the minority Shia community. He had also blamed a neighbouring country for the attack.

  • Cuteness overloaded: Maryam’s toy shopping on video call with granddaughter goes viral

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has been spotted speaking to her granddaughter while looking for toys, a video of which has gone viral over the internet.

    In the video, reportedly shot at a rest-stop on the Bahawalpur-Lahore route, the PML-N leader was seen speaking to granddaughter Serena, telling her what she had bought for her and asking what else did she want.

    “I got red chips for you,” Maryam was seen telling the kid on a video call. “You want to see?” She is then seen heading over to a wall where a toy doctor set is hanging. “Look… look at this doctor’s set Serena. You want this one?” “You want the doctor’s set or do you want the bus?” she asks before reciting the nursery rhyme “Wheels on the Bus”.

    “Maryam Nawaz specially stopped at a rest area on her way back to Lahore from Bwp to get things for her granddaughter Serena… Showing her toys on a video call,” PML-N’s Sania Ashiq wrote while tweeting the video.

    “The pleasures and joy of being a Nano,” Maryam said while reacting to it. On May 6, 2018, Mehrunisa, Maryam’s daughter and the granddaughter of former prime minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif, gave birth to the baby girl. A picture of the baby in Maryam’s arms had also gone viral later.

  • ‘Kids half Imran’s age giving him sleepless nights’

    ‘Kids half Imran’s age giving him sleepless nights’

    Recalling that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had dismissed her and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as “kids”, Maryam Nawaz of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has said that the same are now giving the premier “sleepless nights”.

    “These kids are half your age but they are turning you around their little finger [and] have given you sleepless nights,” she said as leaders of the 11-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Sunday gathered in Larkana on the occasion of the late ex-PM Benazir Bhutto’s 13th death anniversary for another power show as part of its anti-government protests.

    According to Dawn, Maryam once again hit out at the government over inflation and allegedly hiding behind the establishment, telling PM Imran he was not fighting the PDM but the entire population of Pakistan.

    “Your war is not with PDM but with the 220 million people of Pakistan whom you have struck like lightning,” she said while addressing the premier, adding that the people had “won” this war.

    Maryam said when Bilawal was unable to attend the PDM rally in Mardan, PM Imran was “jumping around with elation” believing there had been a rift within the opposition. She alleged he will say the same about today’s rally which Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman did not attend.

    She alleged that whenever these “kids” called him out, Prime Minister Imran hid behind his “elders” and asked them to rescue him.

    “These kids’ biggest qualification is that the people of Pakistan are standing with them,” she said, adding that the premier’s alleged dream of creating a rift within the PDM “will never be fulfilled”.

    The PML-N leader paid tribute to Benazir’s struggle for democracy, recalling that the Charter of Democracy signed by her father Nawaz Sharif and Benazir “wasn’t just a few pieces of paper; this was a decision for turning the course of Pakistan’s political history that I, Bilawal and all of Pakistan’s political leadership will take forward and advance”.

    She said when the PPP government was formed in 2008, many elements wanted it to be brought down but Nawaz “crushed that suggestion even within his own party” and favoured allowing the government to complete its tenure.

    “When political parties started completing their terms, some forces to whom ‘divide and rule’ suited started getting restless. Then we saw [former ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja] Pasha set up a party by collecting political trash named the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, and that party was then used in dharnas and conspiracies against your elected government,” Maryam alleged.

    She said while politicians were given death sentences and faced character assassinations, those who committed much severer offences such as “breaking the country and the Constitution, losing Siachen and the Kashmir cause, violating one’s oath to interfere in politics, having political rivals killed, and committing corruption worth billions” were not held accountable.

    “But remember, ideology cannot be hanged or exiled,” she added.

    Accusing former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf of being “the murderer of the Constitution and of Benazir Bhutto”, she said no one even talked about bringing him back to the country.

    “The court that sentenced Musharraf to death [in the high treason case] was hanged itself,” Maryam alleged.

    She said although Musharraf could not return to the country, the “brave decision” of the judge who led the bench that handed guilty verdict to him, late Peshawar High Court chief justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, to uphold the Constitution “will not only be remembered by the Pakistani people but also kept alive”.

    Maryam also thanked the people of Sindh for their hospitality and Bilawal and his family members for welcoming her early in the morning at their residence in Naudero.

    Earlier, Bilawal also delivered a fiery speech wherein he criticised the government and its policies among accusing it of rising to power with the support of the security establishment.

  • Maryam says over 95 per cent PML-N lawmakers have submitted resignations to her

    Maryam says over 95 per cent PML-N lawmakers have submitted resignations to her

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has said that out of 160 Punjab lawmakers, 159 MPAs have submitted their resignations to the party leadership in line with the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) strategy to ramp up pressure on the government.

    Speaking to reporters ahead of her visit to Sindh to participate in a rally organised by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to mark Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary, Maryam said the deadline given to the lawmakers to turn in their resignations was Dec 31.

    She said the only provincial lawmaker who hasn’t submitted her resignation letter is currently battling for her life after she was put on a ventilator.

    Speaking about the National Assembly members, she said over 95 per cent MNAs have sent in their resignations to her. According to Maryam, the lawmakers will submit their resignations till 31st to the party leadership and the PDM will subsequently decide when to send them to the respective speakers.

    Maryam said the lawmakers will not defy the party line, as they know that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has “no future”. She added that attempt to damage the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) also backfired because people have become politically aware.

    Speaking about her uncle and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, the de-facto PML-N chief said that Shehbaz has always been loyal to his brother Nawaz Sharif. Shehbaz would have been the prime minister of the country instead of “incompetent” Imran Khan had he betrayed his brother at the behest of the powers-that-be, said Maryam.

    Maryam also rubbished the reports of any potential “grand dialogue” between the government and the opposition. She said there will be no talks with the government and Imran Khan will have to go home.