Imran’s ultimatum ‘face-saving’ attempt: Maryam

PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz said on Thursday that Imran Khan’s six-day ultimatum to the government to announce an election is just a face-saving attempt as people have rejected the “fake revolution”.

The people have rejected the former premier by saying ‘absolutely not’, she said, adding that he couldn’t gather even 20,000 people despite the fact that he was claiming to bring 2.5 million people to Islamabad. Maryam was speaking outside the residence of the constable who was martyred by the firing of a PTI worker when he raided his residence in Model Town along with other policemen. She went there to condole with the family of the deceased constable.

Maryam telephoned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif from the residence of the constable, and he talked to the widow and announced a residence and cash for the children of the deceased. Later, talking to media, Maryam held Imran Khan responsible for the killing of constable Kamal Ahmad. “Imran Khan has kept his own sons safe in London but deprived these five children of their father by killing him,” Maryam said.

She said that ‘real freedom’ begins from home and therefore Imran Khan should first bring his children to Pakistan and teach them what real freedom meant. Maryam said that the families of the martyred and injured soldiers will be compensated and the government will take care of them. She added that the government should register a case against Khan because of whom two children lost their lives during the long march while a constable was martyred.

Maryam Nawaz said that Imran Khan’s six-day ultimatum to the government to announce an election is just a face-saving attempt as people have rejected the “fake revolution”. “People turned his ‘Azadi March’ into ‘destruction march’ and sent him back to Peshawar,” said Maryam while addressing the media in Lahore on Thursday.

The PML-N vice president said that the nation is well aware of the fact that Khan’s agenda was to spread anarchy in the country. She further added that PTI used Supreme Court’s decision “to burn the capital to ashes”. She said she wanted the SC to know that PTI leaders, including former interior minister Sheikh Rashid, had themselves termed it a ‘violent march’.

Answering a question regarding the government’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Maryam said that the country would default if the prices of petrol and diesel are not increased, only because of the agreement signed between Imran Khan and the Fund.

Meanwhile, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal Thursday said that the coalition government is trying hard to bring the country out of the economic crisis by reforming the system. Addressing a press conference, the minister said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had exposed the country to a default-like situation but “we will not let Pakistan go on default”.

He said there was a pause in the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund but it did not mean that the discussions had failed. He said the reason behind pause in the discussions with the IMF was that the government did not want to shift more burden on the common man. “We will not put the burden of inflation left behind by Imran Khan on our own shoulder.”

Ahsan Iqbal said that whenever there is an event of national interest, Imran Khan starts an activity that support Pakistan’s enemy. “On May 25, the Indian courts were set to announce decision of the case against Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik but due to the long march, Pakistan media could not highlight the issue”, he said.