Arrest Maryam Nawaz for smear campaign against Pak first lady, says lawmaker

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA and Parliamentary Secretary for Commerce Aliya Hamza Malik has submitted an application with the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) FIR for the arrest of Maryam Nawaz, the vice president of PML-N, for a smear campaign against the Pakistan first lady, Bushra Bibi, on social media, Samaa TV reported.

Malik in her application, which she has shared on her Twitter account, said that the first lady is neither a politician nor makes any political statement. Running obscene trends and spreading malicious information against her is a serious crime. "If such people had been punished earlier, no one would have dared to level such allegations against a pious woman like the first lady."

On February 14, FIA arrested Sabir Mehmood Hashmi from Lahore's Model Town area on the charges of running a 'cheap' campaign against the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the report said.

On the same day, Maryam Nawaz tweeted in Hashmi's support.

Now Malik believes that Maryam's support and her decision to help Hashmi in his legal battle tantamount to Maryam confessing that Hashmi was running the smear campaign against the first lady on her behest.

She expressed hope that the FIA would soon arrest Maryam Nawaz.

Responding to Malik's accusations, Maryam Nawaz tweeted that her ailing mother lying unconscious in the ICU should have been accorded the same respect that PM Khan wants for his wife, the report said.