ISLAMABAD: The main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has dismissed the “malicious propaganda” against Maryam Nawaz, alleging that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and its spokespersons are “desperately trying to influence the outcome of the sub judice cases”.

In a statement issued from London, PML-N information secretary Mar­riyum Aurangzeb said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was being used like a tool against the Sharif family and the government was obsessed with persecuting them instead of focusing on addressing the crisis created by their incompetence.

The statement from the PML-N came in the wake of statements issued by a number of government ministers on the petition submitted by Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in the Lahore High Court, seeking removal of her name from the Exit Control List (ECL) so that she could leave for London to inquire after the health of her ailing father.

Ms Aurangzeb asked as to why was there stigma attached to Maryam Nawaz’s visit abroad when she had not been convicted in any case while her bail had been granted on merit. She said the only case Maryam Nawaz was facing now too had been filed on the ridiculous premise of why did she receive her ancestral asset.

Ms Aurangzeb said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s hysteria of Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Marriyum Nawaz and Hamza Shahbaz had consumed him to the point that he had nothing else on his mind but ways to accuse the Sharif family with new lies.

She said the government’s “army of rented mouthpieces” were maligning Mar­yam and were trying to influence the proceedings of the sub judice cases against her, although she was kept in NAB custody for three months while the anti-graft watchdog could not prove a dime of corruption against her.

She said the “selected PM” should be the first one to be placed on the ECL over the attack on parliament and PTV and the Malam Jabba case.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2019