ISLAMABAD: Vice president of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz has broken her silence of over six months and declared that the jail ordeal has strengthened, and not weakened, her resolve to stand by civilian supremacy and the Constitution.

Talking to reporters on two occasions after visiting the residences of senior party leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday, Ms Nawaz in response to a question said she was sticking to her own stance of vote ko izzat do (respect vote) and that she would play a leading role whenever asked by her party.

“In fact, our party has two slogans. One is vote ko izzat do and the other is wazir-i-azam Nawaz Sharif,” she said during her first interaction with journalists since August last year, when she was arrested in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills corruption case.

“First, if anyone thinks that by putting me in jail without any reason I can be scared or subdued, they should know that my resolve to stand by civilian supremacy and the Constitution has strengthened, not weakened,” the former premier’s daughter said.

Ms Nawaz, who had previously been active on social media in targeting the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Prime Minister Imran Khan, was released on bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on November 4, but she maintained a low profile and did not make any public appearance.

Claims she doesn’t want her father to abandon treatment and return home because of her

The vice president of the PML-N had held her last news conference at the party’s Model Town Secretariat in Lahore on July 6 last year. At the presser a ‘secretly recorded’ video was played in which judge Arshad Malik was allegedly seen saying that he was pressurised and blackmailed to convict former prime minister Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference.

Since then, Ms Nawaz’s Twitter account has been silent and her silence has been under discussion at political gatherings and in the media. There was a perception in the political circles that her silence was a part of some kind of an understanding with the powers that be and this perception got strengthened after her ailing father was released from prison and allowed to proceed to London in November last year for treatment.

“I am under my party’s discipline. Whenever my party leadership, my seniors give me instructions to come forward and play my role, you will not find me lagging behind,” she declared, when asked if she would continue to remain silent or she had now come out to lead her party.

Without elaborating, the PML-N leader said that she had remained “silent due to personal reasons”, adding that it did not mean that her resolve had weakened.

“My father went abroad for medical treatment and (when he left) his life was in danger. Now he is better than before. I don’t want to cause him pain and do not want him to abandon treatment and return because of me,” she said, while refuting media reports that Mr Sharif had refused to undergo treatment without her presence in London with him.

Ms Nawaz, who had been politically active since 2017 when Nawaz Sharif was disqualified as prime minister, is unable to travel to London as her name is on the country’s no-fly list and she was ordered by the LHC to surrender her passport in order to secure bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

“Media reported [Nawaz] as saying that he will not get treatment in Maryam’s absence. This is completely false, he did not say that,” she said, negating the statement of her uncle and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif who had stated through an officially-released statement that Nawaz’s medical procedure had been delayed twice because Maryam Nawaz could not travel to London.

“He was hospitalised twice and everything was booked and by chance, both times, my court hearing was scheduled around the time [his procedure was scheduled to take place]. So he said ‘we can wait for a day or two, if Maryam gets permission to travel, I will get the procedure done. Otherwise, we’ll see once her hearing is over’,” she said while quoting her father.

“It’s true that my brothers are with him and my sister as well and they are looking after him day and night [...] But he is as much my father as he is of my other siblings. I want to be there with him when he is going through a major heart procedure and I am sure he wants all his children to be with him,” she said, terming her desire “very valid”. She said if the courts didn’t allow her to leave the country, then she would urge her father to get his procedure done as soon as possible.

Ms Nawaz visited Islamabad two days after the meeting of the party’s parliamentary group in Islamabad in which some of the party legislators reportedly objected to the long stay of Shahbaz Sharif in London and called for his early return.

Ms Nawaz said she had come to Islamabad to felicitate two senior PML-N leaders and their families over their release from jail. She praised Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Rana Sanaullah and Miftah Ismail who endured incarceration but remained committed to the party and the cause of democracy.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2020