Rawalpindi: PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz has launched another scathing tirade against “some judges” of the superior courts, saying the country needs “honest judges, and not those facilitating former prime minister Imran Khan”.
Addressing a party workers convention in Rawalpindi on Sunday, Maryam referred to the latest audio leaks allegedly featuring former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi, PTI leader Yasmin Rashid, and others, saying the judiciary needs to hold “some people” accountable. In one of the leaked conversations, Elahi allegedly wanted cases to be fixed before a sitting apex court judge. “In the latest audio leak, Pervaiz Elahi was asking [someone] to get the case fixed before Justice Mazahar Ali Naqvi-led bench so that our matter gets resolved,” she said while referring to the alleged leaked audio clip.
“This country needs ‘imaan-dar’ (honest), not ‘Imran-dar’ (pro-Imran) judges,” she added. She went to demand the apex court judge who was allegedly named in the audio leak to step down on moral grounds and “wash off the stain from judiciary”. “The judiciary needs to hold such elements accountable. I am not speaking about entire judiciary as our judiciary has many judges who are honest and upright,” she clarified. “I am speaking about those [judges] who are followers of [General retired] Faiz Hameed and are still working at his whims.”
She also rejected the PTI’s allegations that her party was involved running a smear campaign against the judiciary saying, “Your leaked audios are tainting the image of judiciary”. The ruling party leader also added that ex-PM Imran Khan wanted to return to power with the support of judiciary after the establishment stopped backing him. In similar criticism a day earlier, the PML-N leader said the judiciary woulod have to make amends for ousting former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from office while cautioning that a failure to “wash off the stain” would spell trouble for the country.
The PML-N scion, in her off-the-cuff remarks during an informal conversation with journalists on Saturday, also sounded alarms that “remnants” of former spy chief Lt Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed still plagued the establishment, claiming that they were facilitating PTI chief Imran Khan. While noting that Imran Khan’s defeat was a fait accompli as no institution was willing to back him, Maryam claimed there were “some people” who were still smoothing the way for the former premier.
Maryam said her party is in the field with full preparations to contest the elections. Addressing the convention, she said the PML-N was not scared of elections because it had not been ‘selected’. The party has entered the field not to just contest the polls, but to win them, she added. Imran Khan is a coward as he had been using women and children as shields to avoid his arrest, she said, adding that in fact, the PTI chief was responsible for the existing inflation and the difficulties of the people.
She said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was striving hard and working day and night to steer the country out of the crisis. Nawaz Sharif had always brought Pakistan out of difficulties and crises and put it on the path of development, she added.
