SWABI: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz vice-president Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday urged former prime minister Imran Khan not to hide behind ‘Lettergate’ and said the PTI chairman should do away with his ‘drama’ meant to divert the people’s attention from his poor performance during the four years rule.

“Lettergate is a drama by [ex-PM] Imran Khan. No one believes his narrative [of ouster through a foreign conspiracy]. He is a big liar, who is again trying to mislead the people and harm state institutions. We won’t allow him to flee the country and will ensure that he faces the people,” the PML-N leader told a public meeting in the Tehsil Chota Lahor Cricket Ground here.

The PML-N’s power show in the district came ahead of Imran Khan’s public meeting slated to be held here next Monday.

People from different parts of the province, especially the adjoining districts, showed up there in large numbers.

Ms Maryam, who is the daughter of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, called Imran Khan modern-day traitor Mir Jafar and said the former prime minister’s poor economic policies had left the country on the brink of bankruptcy.

She said the former prime minister had accused the army and political parties of conspiring against his government but wasn’t saying a single word about his utter failure to govern the country.

The PML-N leader urged Imran to stop targeting state institutions and tell the people about his government’s performance on socioeconomic front.

She alleged that the former prime minister had flagrantly violated the Constitution and was unwilling to relinquish power even after losing majority in the National Assembly.

Ms Maryam claimed that the former prime minister had taken away valuable items, including an Rs150 million BMW car, from toshakhana (repository of state gifts), while his wife’s friend, Farah Gogi, minted billions through corrupt practices, but Imran continued to consider himself to be a pious leader.

She said Imran had divided the nation, weakened the country’s economy to the core, maligned and damaged state institutions, followed dictation from the International Monetary Fund, and refused to accept the court’s verdicts.

The PML-N leader said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should ‘use their vote with great care’ in the next general elections.

Adviser to the prime minister and PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam also addressed the participants.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2022