Maryam Nawaz reveals unforgettable fan moment

ATTOCK: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has recalled an emotional encounter with a 21-year-old girl who reportedly injured her hands while pushing through a crowd to get her autograph during a visit to Mandi Bahauddin.

Addressing a public gathering in Attock on Tuesday, Maryam said she noticed that both hands of the young girl were covered in blood. When she affectionately asked how she had sustained the injuries, the girl told her that she had struggled through the crowd just to obtain the chief minister’s autograph.

Maryam said the incident had happened in front of her eyes, insisting that she was sharing what she had personally witnessed.

She said her political opponents had expected people to question her leadership after she assumed the office of chief minister. However, she claimed that the public’s affection and response had proved their predictions wrong.

The chief minister said she believed in maintaining direct contact with ordinary people rather than keeping them away from public gatherings. She added that listening to people’s concerns and remaining accessible to them were central to her political approach.

Encouraging people to remain determined in difficult circumstances, Maryam said achieving major goals required sacrifices, patience and courage. She referred to the hardships and imprisonment she had experienced, urging people never to lose hope when facing challenges.

She also said that serving people sincerely brought a sense of inner satisfaction that could not be achieved through anything else.

Highlighting development initiatives in Attock, Maryam said the city’s local market had been renovated along modern lines and had become even more attractive than Lahore’s famous Liberty Market.

She added that work was continuing around the clock on major development projects worth billions of rupees to address Attock’s longstanding drainage and waterlogging problems, particularly during rainfall.

The chief minister also defended her government’s record on corruption, challenging anyone to provide evidence that she or her close associates had misappropriated even a single rupee. She said she was prepared to answer to both Allah and the people of Pakistan if any such wrongdoing was established.

Turning to Federal Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain’s allegations of corruption in Punjab, Maryam strongly criticised his remarks and demanded that he present documentary evidence against her or the provincial government.

She warned that legal action would follow if he failed to substantiate his accusations, adding that a federal minister should avoid making allegations without credible proof.

Maryam also questioned the moral grounds on which Chaudhry Salik continued serving in the federal government while criticising the provincial administration as corrupt.

Responding to his praise for former Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi’s tenure, she recalled the severe waterlogging she witnessed during a visit to Gujrat amid heavy rains. She said roads and neighbourhoods were flooded to such an extent that even her vehicle had become submerged.

Reiterating her stance against political pressure, Maryam said she would not allow anyone to blackmail her over corruption allegations. She maintained that government appointments across Punjab were being made strictly on merit, warning that appointments secured through personal influence undermined institutions and harmed ordinary citizens.