Sahiwal: Elections won’t take place, according to PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, until Nawaz Sharif’s “wrongful punishments” have been reversed and PTI Chairman Imran Khan has been “brought to justice.”
Speaking to a convention of workers in Sahiwal, she declared: “Elections will undoubtedly take place, but first there will be restitution for the wrongs done to Nawaz Sharif.
Elections will undoubtedly be held, but only after Imran is brought to justice and the incorrect sentences against the innocent Nawaz Sharif are overturned. When the Panama bench that “bestowed” Nawaz with terms and titles like “godfather” and “Sicilian mafia” is reinstated, elections will be held.
The PML-N chief organiser made it clear that elections wouldn’t take place until after justice had been served.
Maryam cited the Panama bench as the cause of the nation’s problems and accused it of “destroying the country.” As a result of your hatred for Nawaz Sharif, you destroyed Pakistan.
The polls will be held at some point, she said, adding that 2023 is in fact the election year. She did, however, list a few more conditions that must be met before the elections can take place.
“First, bring [to justice] the person whose wife accepted bribes of five karat diamonds for every file; first, hold [to account] the person who kept his daughter secret; first, hold the person accountable for the committing the foreign funding crime; first, hold [to account] the person who kept the watch thief to justice; and first, bring them in court, and then the elections will take place,” she said.
Elections will only take place when voting is treated with the respect and justice it deserves. Hold the elections tomorrow, and then grant us justice today,” Maryam said.
She insisted that the criteria set for Nawaz would be the same as those set for Imran prior to the elections.
The courts, according to Maryam, would be open six days a week to hear her father’s cases, but they “do not have the courage” to call Imran, “whose hands are dipped in crime,” to court.
She criticises the judiciary in response to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the PPP chairman, who on Sunday claimed that the judiciary applied a double standard by punishing one leader while protecting another.
A “cabal of five,” which included former and current members of the judiciary, was harshly criticised by the PML-N senior vice president herself in a fiery speech on Thursday. She accused them of “conspiring” against Nawaz.
A video screen had displayed a composite image of the five people she held accountable right on cue.
Former chief justices Asif Khosa and Saqib Nisar, as well as two sitting Supreme Court justices, were all shown in the pictures as members of the top court bench hearing a suo motu case to determine who had the constitutional duty and authority to announce the date for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Contempt petition against Maryam
In the meantime, a petition for contempt of court against Maryam regarding her speech on February 23 was set for hearing by the Lahore High Court for tomorrow (Tuesday).
The petition was filed today by Advocate Muhammad Shahid Rana under Article 204 (contempt of court) of the Constitution and Sections 2c, 3, 5, 6c, 7 and 11 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance 2003.
According to the petition, Maryam should be punished because the majority of her remarks about the judiciary in her speech last week were “contemptuous.”
It claimed that Maryam’s live address “scandalised” a Supreme Court judge. It further stated that she could not publicise the misconduct of a judge or court but rather could only report it to the Supreme Judicial Council or the president.
Maryam was to be summoned and “brought to book in accordance with law,” according to the petition.
