Maryam inaugurates PML-N central office in NA-120
Ousted premier Nawaz Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz, who is running her mother Begum Kulsoom's campaign for the NA-120 by-polls, inaugurated the PML-N's central office in the Lahore constituency on Tuesday, DawnNews reported.
Maryam formally kicked off the NA-120 campaign on Saturday, instructing the PML-N’s local leaders and workers to mount an "aggressive" campaign in the constituency. She is also expected to pay visits to the constituency after Eid, and has said she will "remain among the workers till the 2018 election".
Explore: Maryam cancels London trip for NA-120 campaign
Speaking to a crowd outside the party's NA-120 office, she lashed out at the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), asking, "What have they ever done for Lahore?"
"How can they ask you for votes?" she questioned, when they continuously criticise progress in Lahore, and by extension, the people who voted for the PML-N?
"NA-120 has elected Nawaz Sharif thrice, will you elect him for a fourth time?" she asked the crowd, who answered in the affirmative.
Maryam also criticised the Supreme Court's verdict over the Panama Papers case that led to Sharif's disqualification, wondering how a person who turned the country into an atomic power and allegedly ended loadshedding could be rendered unfit for holding office.
"Are you prepared to respond to those who violated the sanctity of your vote?" she asked.
She urged the crowd to elect "their mother" Kulsoom Nawaz during the Sept 17 by-poll, so that those who were conspiring against her father and family could be defeated. She urged them to bury the "politics of pawns" on Sept 17.
"Dharna, Panama, iqamah, sab bahana hai, Nawaz Sharif nishana hai (Demonstrations, the Panama Papers, the iqamah are all excuses, Nawaz Sharif is the target)," she chanted. She asked the party's supporters to pray for her mother's health.
She confirmed to reporters later that her father would be departing for London on Wednesday morning to join her mother, who is undergoing cancer treatment.
Earlier today, she paid her respects at Data Darbar.
