LAHORE: Maryam Nawaz on Monday said that the Supreme Court decision in the Panama Papers case had actually benefited former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

“Nawaz Sharif got benefit from his disqualification as even the angry workers of the PML-N are now fully backing him,” she said while talking to reporters during her visit to NA-120 constituency.

She rejected a perception that there was division in the ranks of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N or differences among the Sharif family members.

“The party is united under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif. As far as differences in our family are concerned I have been hearing this for the last 30 years. I have no differences with Hamza Shahbaz as he is my younger brother,” she said.

Says all institutions should work within their jurisdiction

In reply to a question about a proposal of handing over the reins of the party to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, she said: “The party revolved around Nawaz Sharif yesterday and nothing has changed today as well in this respect.”

When her attention was invited to the statement of federal minister Riaz Pirzada that Shahbaz Sharif should take over the party, Ms Maryam said she did not want to make a comment on this.

Unlike other PML-N leaders, Ms Maryam is not sure about the results of 2018 elections. “I cannot predict who will win next election, but I am positive that this government will complete its tenure,” she said.

After the NA-120 by-poll that was won by her mother Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, she had claimed that its result showed where the PML-N would be in 2018 elections. Even Nawaz Sharif and other party stalwarts had predicted easy victory for the PML-N.

When asked who was behind the picking up of PML-N social media supporters, Ms Maryam said: “The interior ministry can tell about this.”

Nawaz Sharif also recently demanded that the interior ministry take notice of the issue and ensure safe recovery of the missing activists. There are reports on social media claiming that certain members of Ms Maryam’s media cell were picked up for their alleged involvement in a smear campaign against the judiciary and the armed forces.

Ms Maryam, who is facing three corruption cases along with her father, husband and brothers in the accountability court, regretted that the case against Mr Sharif had been instituted despite the fact that nowhere in Panama Papers was his name mentioned. “This is the first case of its kind in which punishment has been given before trial,” she said.

She wondered how come the Natio­nal Accountability Bureau, which had been declared “dead” by the apex court, suddenly got alive and was delivering.

Like other party hawks, Ms Maryam said that all institutions should work within their ambit. “It will be better for the country if every state institution works within its limits,” she said and acknowledged that soldiers were sacrificing their lives for the motherland.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017