ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President, Maryam Nawaz, Wednesday announced that the party would present Prime Minister Imran Khan’s old videos before court to prove his criticism of the army, urging the higher judiciary to allow registration of a “treason” case against him.
“We have heard that they [government] are going to frame a treason case against Mufti Kifayatullah [of the JUI-F], I don’t know the reason behind it, but we will present in the court the old videos of Imran Khan available on the social media in which he has criticised the army and we will urge the court to frame treason case against him,” Maryam Nawaz told a gathering of party workers mostly from the AJK at Kashmir House to commemorate the foundation day of the All India Muslim League, founded on 30th December 1906 at then Dacca.
The event was organised by the AJK chapter of the PML-N, which was also addressed by AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal, and others.
However, former premier and the PML-N supremo, Nawaz Sharif, did not address the gathering.
In her address, Maryam Nawaz disagreed with Prime Minister Khan that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders were criticising the army in their speeches and meetings.
“No one speaks against the army because it is our institution. Imran had said he would not allow anyone to speak against the army and file cases against those who did…If you want to make a case against anyone speaking against the army, then there is Imran Khan’s history of 12 years [of criticism of the army]. How could you say that we and Nawaz Sharif are speaking against the army?” she questioned.
She further maintained that Nawaz Sharif during his tenure had always stood behind the army and during the operations against terrorists, he had asked the army “not to be worried” about the finances, as the country was then quite “prosperous.”
She also criticised the PTI government for not raising the salaries of army personnel, saying: “there are a large number of our soldiers who subsist only on their salaries. This is perhaps the first government in country’s history which did not increase the salaries of army personnel.”
She also accused Prime Minister Khan of ‘losing’ Kashmir to India, saying that it was because of Imran Khan’s “weak” government that gave India courage to illegally annex Kashmir.
“When a weak prime minister comes into power who doesn’t come with people’s power and votes and when there is a weak government, then an enemy like India strikes…When there is a government like that of Nawaz Sharif, then someone like Modi himself to us. This is the difference between a genuine and fake prime minister. This is why it is necessary to give respect to the vote,” Maryam said in reference to Modi’s surprise visit in December 2015 on his way back from Kabul to “greet” the then premier, Nawaz Sharif, on the wedding of his grand daughter.
Lashing out at the government for the arrest of party leader, Khawaja Asif the other day, she said that the party leaders would not be deterred through such tactics.
“The ‘selected’ prime minister will now be rejected and he will have to go…if you think Khawaja Asif’s arrest will deter us, you are mistaken, rather we will fight you with more strength,” she announced.
She also claimed that all the predictions of Nawaz Sharif about the PTI government and Imran Khan’s “incompetence” were proving true.
“Nawaz Sharif told you that you will not be able to run the government and that you should go and play cricket. You yourself admitted that you were brought when you had no preparation and experience,” she added.
She further claimed that Nawaz’s voice had been “muffled” but his struggle and his narrative along with the people’s support had spread awareness of his message to every corner of the country.
Maryam maintained that to date, no reference had been filed in the case for which Nawaz Sharif was arrested, adding that the government accused Nawaz of things “not proven till to date”.
She claimed various vehicles of the intelligence agencies followed her after the arrest of Khawaja Asif on Tuesday.
Referring to the upcoming election in the AJK, Maryam announced that she would herself lead the party’s election campaign, and asked the people to be vigilant and become the guardian of their vote.
Addressing the gathering, PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal announced that if his party came to power, it would “file a treason case against Imran Khan for bargaining away Kashmir”.
Addressing a gathering of party workers at Kashmir House, Islamabad, on the occasion of the PML-N Kashmir's founding day, Iqbal said after the formation of Pakistan, India had "occupied the land of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters".
“He [Imran Khan] is a “traitor” to Kashmir, he has bargained over Kashmir. I promise, if we come into power, we will file a treason case against him for bargaining away Kashmir,” he vowed.
He questioned whether Pakistan’s defence system had been weakened so much that Modi annexed Kashmir.
“If this is not the case then Prime Minister Imran Khan bargained away Kashmir in a meeting with US President Donald Trump,” he claimed.
He also questioned the inaction of the government to undertake preemptive measures before the annexation of Kashmir by India, despite clear signs of Modi government’s actions in the occupied territory.
“We have information that our intelligence agencies informed Imran Khan that India had sent 200,000 troops into Occupied Jammu & Kashmir and advised him to visit Muslim countries and stop this aggression but he did not, as he was told flying over seas would bring him bad luck,” he further claimed.
He also alleged that the 2018 elections were rigged, saying that Punjab voted for the PML-N but the peoples’ vote was “thrown in the dustbin”.
AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider also addressed the gathering and announced that they would not allow any move aimed at turning AJK into a province.
“Decisions on Kashmir will be taken by us — the Kashmiris — not in Islamabad or in New Delhi. In AJK, a move to create a province would be over our dead bodies,” he vowed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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