LAHORE: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz says the Karachi incident is an “attack on the fake government” of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) also, but “dummy” Prime Minister Imran Khan has been silent on the matter for the last three days.

“The Karachi incident (in which her husband was arrested from a hotel room where the couple was staying) has proved that there is a state within a state,” she told reporters while visiting the protest camp of Baloch students on The Mall here on Friday.

More than three dozen Baloch students, who marched from Multan to Lahore, have been protesting for restoration of their scholarships and other academic demands.

Says she’ll raise Baloch students’ issue at PDM’s Quetta rally

“What happened in Karachi has shown who is actually running the government. Imran Khan is simply a dummy. And this dummy has been silent for the last three days proving that it is a fight among elders, and children have nothing to do with it,” she added.

The PML-N leader further said there was no point in investigating the matter. “If there is an inquiry, it should be transparent so that the nation knows everything and the report made public.”

She believed the PPP’s Sindh government was not involved in the Karachi incident, adding that the way the government was “hiding in Bani Gala” it might be sent packing even before January.

To a question, the opposition leader said no one else but the government or the judiciary should take notice of the Karachi incident.

She also said that policemen had barged into her room and violated her privacy. “They went against the law. I was in the privacy of my room with my husband. They broke the lock of my door as they had Safdar’s arrest warrant, not mine. This was illegal and they will have to answer for it.”

Chiding the PTI government for mistreating Baloch students, Ms Nawaz said students from Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, former Fata and Balochistan were on the road today as the government had snatched the scholarships given to them by the PML-N regime. She said she had visited the students to amplify their voice.

The government had withdrawn 600 seats of these students from the institutions in Punjab. She remarked that the media was not covering the protest of these students, and criticised the PTI government for not paying heed to their just problems. She said she would raise the issue during the Quetta rally of the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

PPP’s Chaudhry Manzoor also visited the protest camp and expressed solidarity with the students and demanded the government immediately restore their scholarships.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2020