PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz offers 'hand of friendship' to Imran Khan's PTI

LAHORE: Maryam Nawaz, leader of the ruling PML-N and daughter of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has for the first time offered a "hand of friendship" to Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, saying that a fight between the two mainstream political parties was not in the best interest of the country

While addressing a rally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party in Multan city of Punjab province on Friday ahead of crucial by-polls in Punjab province, Maryam said, "I don't want to fight with the PTI. I want Pakistan to progress and for this, I offer a hand of friendship, peace and love to the PTI youth and its supporters. I first take this initiative only for Pakistan. I also ask Imran Khan to let the country progress."

However, she warned former prime minister Khan, who was ousted by a no-confidence motion in April and his party not to take her "peace promise" as a weakness for her or her Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party. She added that she knows how to give a "tit-for-tat" response.

By-elections to 20 Punjab Provincial Assembly seats will be held on Sunday.

If Imran's PTI wins 12 to 13 seats, he will have a majority in the House and will be able to oust Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The Supreme Court had earlier announced that the Chief Minister would be re-elected on July 22.

Maryam targeted the Election Commission of Pakistan for disabling the Result Transmission System (RTS) in 2018 for rigging "the polls in favour of Khan" and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for "seeking one excuse or another" to delay her court appeals against her conviction on corruption charges.

She said that her party's government had reduced the price of petroleum, so she was able to sleep well after a long time. Maryam also said that she could share pictures of herself in her jail cell in Kot Lakhpat Jail, where she was imprisoned after arriving with her father from London ahead of the 2018 elections.

"I want to tell Imran Khan what a death cell in a prison is. You (Khan) need to see the death cell in Kotlakhpat jail that you kept me in for months, where there was no wall between the bathroom? Should I send you the pictures? You have short-term memory loss or duplicity?" she said.

With PTI inputs