Game over, Imran Khan: Maryam Nawaz’s jibe amid mass exodus of top PTI leaders
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Islamabad: Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senior Vice President, took a dig at former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan while addressing a convention in Pakistan's Punjab province on Friday.
"Your game is over, Imran Khan," Maryam said to the large crowd of vibrant party supporters, first time after the May 9 violence. "This change (alluding to the PTI mantra of Tabdeli), will drown in the same open sewer it came out of", said the senior vice president of the PML-N party.
Her remarks come in the wake of the mass exodus of senior leaders from Khan’s dozens of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Speaking at the convention, Maryam said that there were queues of those quitting PTI.
Maryam is the niece of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the daughter of former PM Nawaz Sharif.
In the aftermath of the mayhem on May 9, more than 70 lawyers and top leaders including the party's Secretary General Asad Umar, former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and former Minister for Human Rights, Shireen Mazari, of the PTI have left the party.
The senior leaders' exodus started when the security forces launched a crackdown against the party following the attacks on civil and military institutions.
"How will the people stand when the leader himself is a jackal?" Maryam criticised the former prime minister, who was removed from office via a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly in April last year.
She spoke about the violence in the country following the arrest of Khan saying that the former Pakistan prime minister was the mastermind of the May 9 “terrorism” but his workers were facing anti-terrorism court.
"Your people are revealing that Imran Khan, 70, is the mastermind of May 9 (incidents)."
May 9 riots saw many military and private properties attacked by angry protesters, Maryam said that people would not spare Imran and judges who supported him in his illegal escapades, referring to Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial, The Express Tribune reported.
Maryam chided the PTI workers and leaders for being wimps, saying said that Imran and his party could not stand hardships even for a brief while, whereas her father, Nawaz Sharif, and his entire party stood tall in the face of audacity. "Those who tried to whip out Nawaz Sharif have themselves been whipped out," the PML-N SVP said.
Maryam said no enemy could dare commit the kind of acts Imran and his people committed. As soon as Imran was arrested, his people proceeded with the already planned protest attacking military installations throughout the country, Express Tribune reported.
"Why did the protesters in Lahore not turn towards the Mall of Lahore, which is right across of corps commander's residence? Why did they go straight for cantonment in Quetta, towards GHQ instead of Lal Haveli in Rawalpindi and towards FC in Peshawar?
"Why did they burn a plane, a symbol of our valor and bravery in Mianwali? These attacks were on Pakistan Army", Express Tribune reported.
On May 9, violent protests erupted after paramilitary Rangers arrested Khan from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises. Khan's party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander's House, the Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad in response to Khan's arrest. The mob also stormed the Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi for the first time.
Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan's party claims 40 of its workers lost their lives in the firing by security personnel.
Thousands of Khan’s supporters were arrested following the violence that the Army described as a “dark day” in the history of the country.
Maryam also took a jibe at Khan saying that Khan took his wife, Bushra Bibi, to court covered with sheets but he used other women as vanguards. Both Khan and his wife were covered with white sheets as they arrived at the Lahore High Court on May 15 in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
