LAHORE: Addressing a large public gathering as part of the election campaign for the PML-N candidate running for the PP-282 by-poll in Layyah, party vice president Maryam Nawaz said that on July 17, the PML-N would be contesting against the inflation, corruption, incompetence and unemployment brought upon by “Fitna Khan” – a reference to former premier Imran Khan.

She added that Punjab would be facing off against an “anti-Punjab” Khan on Sunday.

At the outset of the rally, Maryam thanked the people of Layyah for turning up in droves. She congratulated PTI defector Lala Tahir Randhawa, who was contesting from the city’s PP-282 constituency in Sunday’s by-polls, saying the crowd at the event and the mood was evident of his victory.

Mentioning CPEC, road, transport and energy projects launched by her father and former premier Nawaz Sharif for Pakistan, Ms Nawaz said PTI chief Imran Khan, on the other hand, had introduced only destructive schemes for Punjab. She claimed Mr Khan was the biggest cause of destruction in the province for which his “front persons were Farah Gogi and his wife Bushra”, and he was the mastermind of the plan. “He says he is doing jihad, but he is the first leader who deployed female members of his family to loot Punjab,” she remarked.

Claims PML-N will bury ‘project to loot, plunder’ Punjab in by-polls

Continuing to jibe at Mr Khan, Ms Nawaz said he had left the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where his party had been in power for nine years, helpless in the wake of the devastation caused by flash floods; its hospitals were inundated, rains had wreaked havoc there, but Imran was busy delivering profanities in Punjab. She asked Mr Khan to go serve the people of the province who were his responsibility. “If God forbid Punjab faces a similar situation, Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shehbaz, Maryam Nawaz, everyone will have been at the service of the people,” she remarked.

The PML-N leader further said Imran Khan had once said he had not come to power to check the prices of potato, but now he knew the rates of all edibles. The PML-N would bury the project of loot and plunder in Punjab on July 17, Maryam said, adding good news was the Shehbaz government was going to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel.

She further said Imran had lied about providing 10 million jobs and five million houses to the poor, and instead he rendered people unemployed and shelter-less.

Towards the end, Maryam repeatedly urged the public to vote for her party on Sunday for the sake of the country’s development. She promised development of Layyah district besides creation of new tehsils.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2022