'You will be asking for an NRO in a few days yourself': Maryam criticises PM's address

Published
183
PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz addresses a public gathering in Zafarwal on Wednesday. — DawnNewsTV
PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz addresses a public gathering in Zafarwal on Wednesday. — DawnNewsTV

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan for suggesting in a national address a day earlier that opposition leaders wanted a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)-like deal from him, saying the premier would be asking for an NRO in a few days himself.

Addressing a public gathering in Zafarwal area of Punjab's Narowal district, where she also visited a teenaged boy suffering from cancer, Maryam said if her father, incarcerated former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had asked for an NRO, "a 100 NROs would have fallen into his lap."

"You keep talking about NRO [but] you have no authority to give an NRO," she said, addressing Prime Minister Imran. "You will be going around asking for an NRO in a few days yourself."

She said the talk of an NRO did not suit coming from a person "who is dependent on someone else for everything", without naming anyone.

Prime Minister Imran in a Tuesday night national address had heaped scorn on the opposition parties and announced the establishment of a high-powered commission under him to probe as to how successive governments of the PPP and PML-N took Rs24 trillion loans during the last decade and brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy.

Maryam in her address said the country was rapidly progressing and witnessing development in all areas until the PTI government took over from the PML-N government.

Criticising the budget unveiled by the PTI government on Tuesday, Maryam while referring to Prime Minister Imran said "a person who never earned through his hard work" could never know how a common man survives while making Rs15,000 a month.

She also mocked the premier's statement during his address that the cases against PML-N and PPP leaders were not instituted by his government, but by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). She asked whether it was only NAB's fault, and not Imran's, if the accountability watchdog filed corruption cases against PML-N leaders but did not investigate allegations against the prime minister or his sister, Aleema Khan.

Maryam said NAB was instituting another case against Nawaz for using bulletproof vehicles for his travel as the prime minister, but the bureau did not notice "Imran Khan using the KP government helicopter like a rickshaw while he did not hold any government office".

She said the prime minister, when he had not been "brought into power", used to say that there was one law in Pakistan for the rich and another for the poor. "[In reality], there is one law for the rich and the poor throughout Pakistan and another for the ladla (the beloved)," she alleged.

The PML-N leader claimed that Prime Minister Imran keeps urging the nation to pay taxes, but himself pays a tax of only Rs100,000 "while living in a 300 kanal house".

Apparently referring to the reference filed against Supreme Court's Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Maryam alleged that the premier had sent a reference against a "transparent" judge to the Supreme Judicial Council "because he is habitual of attacking from behind while hiding".

"If you have the courage come forward [and] say, 'I have sent [the reference]', say 'I have set up the cases against Nawaz Sharif'," she said while addressing the premier.

Maryam said the prime minister in his address had announced the formation of a commission to investigate the loans taken by the previous governments in the last decade but questioned why he did not want to go further into the past. "Do you not go back further than 10 years because it was the government of your master [retired Gen Pervez] Musharraf then?" she asked the premier.

She said the loans taken by the PML-N government were spent on development projects and they were paid back with the profits earned.

"The crying and whining will no longer work. [You] will have to answer to the nation now," Maryam said, addressing Prime Minister Imran.

Opinion

Editorial

Kashmir unresolved
Updated 30 Sep, 2026

Kashmir unresolved

The just solution lies in India addressing the issue through a trilateral dialogue involving the legitimate representatives of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan.
Water shortage
30 Sep, 2026

Water shortage

THAT the country is entering the Rabi season with an anticipated water shortage of nearly 25pc, the lowest carryover...
Young hearts
30 Sep, 2026

Young hearts

THE observance may have passed, but the message of World Heart Day should not fade with it. The occasion is a useful...
Terror and politics
Updated 29 Sep, 2026

Terror and politics

There is an urgent need to tone down the rhetoric and tackle terrorism as a collective challenge for both the affected provinces and the federation.
Watching the glaciers
29 Sep, 2026

Watching the glaciers

THE latest signs from Pakistan’s mountains are worrying. Suparco says the number of unfrozen glacial lakes it...
Dangerous agenda
29 Sep, 2026

Dangerous agenda

AS the world remains fixated on the US-Iran conflict, elsewhere in the Middle East, Israel is consolidating its grip...