GUJRAT: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz vice president Maryam Nawaz on Sunday ruled out a US-backed or international conspiracy behind the move to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan, stressing that he had only one card left — resignation.

She asserted that it was none other than PTI lawmakers who had shown their distrust of Mr Khan’s policies and capabilities in running the country.

Reminding Mr Khan of the remarks he made after meeting former US president Donald Trump, she said: “You told the people how jubilant you were after meeting Trump as if you had won the World Cup, and now when President Joe Biden did not even make a phone call, you have started linking the no-trust move and public wrath with a conspiracy being hatched by the United States and other international powers.”

She expressed these views while addressing a news conference in Gujranwala along with Hamza Shehbaz and then speaking to a public meeting after the PM’s speech in Islamabad. They reached near Gujranwala early on Sunday morning while leading the party’s march from Lahore to Islamabad, where the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) organised a massive rally.

Stressing that the ruling PTI had lost 15 out of 16 by-elections in the recent past, Ms Nawaz asked: “Was that an American conspiracy as well?”

“Imran Khan has been left with only one card now — he should resign from the PM office instead of clinging to power,” she said and asked the premier to quit politics, as it “has no room for you in future”.

She said Mr Khan would have to be accountable for his mega corruption scams, as the masses had been robbed of billions of rupees through sugar, medicine, flour, fertiliser, energy and other such scandals.

“Why are you trying to escape by not responding to the queries of the election commission and instead levelling baseless accusations on the chief election commissioner of being Nawaz Sharif’s man? Why are you escaping from the foreign funding case?” she asked the premier.

She thundered that the prime minister had wasted at least Rs12 billion of the taxpayers’ money on running a malicious campaign against the PML-N, whose leaders were sent behind bars. However, she said, the entire leadership was not proven guilty.

Cold response

Ms Nawaz also reminded the prime minister of his cold response to the victims of the Hazara community in Quetta violence and Murree’s tragic incident. “You told the people of Hazara that you could not be blackmailed but now you are bowing your head to the parties and politicians with few seats in parliament to stay in power,” she said.

Challenging the claims about a huge turnout at the PTI event, the PML-N leader said the PM was using the religious card, the state machinery and taxpayers’ money to save his government.

She said the PDM’s march should be named Raddul Fasaad (the elimination of discord) as the country might not have seen such a state of affairs in the past 75 years. She also took a swipe at Mr Khan for taunting Mr Bilawal for “not learning Urdu in 15 years” and calling Maulana Fazlur Rehman “diesel”. In fact Mr Khan should be named diesel for rocketing prices of the product in his tenure, she said.

Rousing reception

On the occasion, Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz said the PML-N had faced “brutal political victimisation” throughout its history, but it did not see towards the umpire’s finger and relied only on public support.

And that’s the reason, he said, the PML-N’s march against the price hike had been given a rousing reception from Lahore to Gujranwala.

Asked whether the PML-N would offer the Punjab chief minister’s slot to a coalition partner of the PTI government, Mr Hamza said: “Seats don’t matter when it comes to saving the country.”

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2022