PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz on Sunday lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan and the PTI government for what she claimed as tarnishing the army’s image by using it to hide [their] own failures.
“When you are pressed for answers, you hide behind the armed forces. You coward! You bring the army into disrepute. You use them [army] to hide your own failures. Who gave you this right?” she asked the premier, questioning if the army belonged to the premier or the PTI alone?
Maryam was addressing a charged crowd of thousands at the second power show of 11-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement in Karachi, hosted by the Pakistan Peoples Party.
PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, PML-N vice presidents Maryam Nawaz and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chairman Mehmood Achakzai, among other leaders, addressed the audience at the event that lasted over five hours. As the leaders reached the venue, thousands of supporters of the opposition parties welcomed them, dancing to the beat of PPP’s anthem.
The crowd waved flags of the various political parties represented by the PDM. Bilawal thanked the enthusiastic crowd and welcomed the JUI-F chief and PML-N vice president.
Addressing the rally later in the evening, PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz thanked the PPP leadership and people of Karachi for according her a warm welcome. She also paid tribute to the provincial government for their efforts amid the Covid-19 pandemic, for which she said they were subjected to humiliation and taunts by the federal government.
She then directed her tirade at Prime Minister Imran, who a day earlier had declared that he would get “tougher” with the opposition and vowed to start making all-out efforts to bring Nawaz Sharif back to the country and send him behind bars.
‘PDM wants real democracy’ Bilawal then went on to question the PTI’s government’s strategy on Kashmir, accusing it of weakening Pakistan’s position through its policies. “He [PM Imran] claimed to be the ambassador of Kashmiris, but now he has become the lawyer of Kulbhushan [Jadhav]. He [PM Imran] has done a deal on Kashmir,” he alleged, adding that the rise of fascism in the country had weakened its stance on Kashmir and Modi.
“This incapable and clueless prime minister will have to go home,” said Bilawal. “Today, innocent people are being killed, going missing and our state is involved in this,” he alleged. “Education, health budgets are being cut but this puppet government doesn’t care because it didn’t come from people’s votes.”
The PPP chairperson alleged that neither did Prime Minister Imran acknowledge the parliament, nor could he see the hunger and tears of people. “And he claims to be [the torch-bearer of] democracy?” he questioned. “A one-man government is a contradiction of democracy. The public will ruin this man’s arrogance,” he said. “He should remember the dictators who came before him.” Source: dawn.com
