LONDON: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Tuesday slammed PTI Chairman Imran Khan and said his only aim for holding the long march was to restrict the incumbent government from appointing the next army chief.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Khan contacted the government last month for discussing two matters — one of them being the appointment of the army chief. However, the premier refused to discuss it with him.
The extended term of army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa will come to an end on November 29 and the coalition government has time and again stressed that his successor will be appointed in due course and in line with the Constitution.
"Imran Khan's 22-year political struggle revolves around General Musharraf, Pasha, Zaheer ul Islam, and those whom he calls his eyes and ears," Maryam told a press conference in London.
Maryam said Khan depends on the establishment to support him, but his plans will fail as in line with the Constitution and the law, PM Shehbaz will appoint the next army chief "peacefully".
"Khan has nothing to do with the appointment. His last card has also failed. People did not partake in the long march, and why would the sons and daughters come to the march? Your children are sitting peacefully outside, so why should the sons of the soil come out to support you?"
The PML-N leader said the "part-time" long march ends within two hours after it starts, and it is stuck in Lahore despite the passage of five days. "And now, we are hearing reports that it will take eight to 10 days."
Maryam said at this pace — when Khan leaves for the march after breakfast and leaves for Lahore for tea in the evening — his caravan would not reach Islamabad after a month.
Maryam claimed since Khan's term was coming to an end and after his ouster, he has been peddling lies, and those statements hurt Pakistan's national security and foreign relations.
The PML-N leader was referring to the claims that Khan has made pertaining to a cypher from the United States and establishment.
"These were such serious lies that DG ISI [Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum] had to come out and address a press conference."
Maryam said since it was the DG ISI who even avoids taking photos, the nation should understand the seriousness of the situation.
The PML-N leader said Khan, on the one hand, terms people of the establishment as Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq, but at the same time, he also holds secret meetings with them when in the dark.
"Khan did not have the guts to admit these things. DG ISI had to reveal this," Maryam said, slamming Khan for repeatedly blaming the ruling alliance for the instability in the country.
Berating Khan over threatening to send a Rs10 billion defamation notice to Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja over the Toshakhana verdict, she said the CEC would win.
"If you sue him, he will win because he wrote the truth and facts. He has provided evidence for his verdict," she said. "He further says that he will get the defamation money and donate it to Shaukat Khanum."
"But he did not tell the [nation] that he will first transfer it to Shaukat Khanum and then have it sent to his own account. Because this is what he has been doing in the past — just like Toshakhana."
Maryam said she does not consider Khan a "leader and a politician" as he was a "foreign-funded agent, who has been provided with funds" to allegedly damage the country.
She said when a person — who defies all norms of politics — talks about democracy, then it embarrasses other politicians. "He is the same person who was ready to give an indefinite extension to the army chief to save his government."
"And now, when he is out of power, he calls him a traitor, animal, Mir Jafar, Mir Sadiq. I have never seen a person lie to this extent to remain in power," she said.
Moving on, Maryam said that Khan and some other journalists repeatedly claimed that the establishment told them that the incumbent rulers were "thieves".
"I think this is the biggest evidence for Nawaz's innocence. I think that former justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui has also made some big revelations. Justice Arshad Malik's statements are also on the record. The facts should be set straight before the nation."
Maryam berated Khan and told him that based on the establishment's word, he defamed his political opponents. "Now I understand why didn't NAB have any evidence against me as they were just handed a piece of paper."
The PML-N leader noted that despite the establishment telling Khan that his opponents were thieves, he did not verify the claims as he knew that he was "lying".
She said Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chiefs were also threatened to target his political opponents.
Criticising the march further, Maryam said that personnel of the Punjab Police employed to provide security to Khan greatly outnumbered the participants of the march.
"Millions of taxpayers' money is being spent to provide security to a march which is aimless and holds no national agenda," she said, adding that it certainly needs a criminal-minded person to spend the public's money so lavishly without having an iota of remorse.
She further said that the narrative of a conspiracy that Khan built following his ouster has been exposed.
"One after the other, his lies started unfolding before the nation which is why the masses are largely indifferent to this long march," she said.
The PML-N vice president added that this long march was the PTI's last plan. "Prior to that, they continued building the narrative of a foreign conspiracy to mount pressure on the government and spewed many lies.
Maryam added that since Khan failed to dissolve the incumbent government and couldn't ask for a date for the election, he resorted to this aimless long march.
The PML-N vice president further censured Khan for bragging about winning the byelections and said that "he wins from constituencies which he himself vacates and then sings his own praise of winning the elections."
She dared Khan and said that he should wait for his biggest opponent — PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif — who has "not yet been given a level-playing field".
"Khan's actual level will be exposed on the day Nawaz will get a chance to step onto the electoral field," she maintained, adding that the PML-N supremo will "Insha Allah return after ridding himself of all the baseless allegations Khan levelled against him."
"And that day is not far away, because [when my case was being heard in the court] the judges clearly said that none of the allegations against Nawaz Sharif has been proven on the basis of which Maryam was convicted."
Maryam then questioned Khan about his anti-establishment rhetoric and asked: "Even if we assume that the establishment had told you that the government leaders are thieves, did they tell you to ask for a 5-carat diamond ring? Was it the establishment that told you to steal items from the Toshakhana and secretly sell them? Did they tell you not to declare the money you earned by selling those gifts? Did the establishment tell you to siphon off Rs50 billion? Did they tell you to make Pinky Peerni [Bushra Bibi] your front woman to carry out massive corruption?"
"Even his party members, who he gathered from other parties including PML-N, PPP, etc., know that he is not a blue-eyed boy anymore. That's why they are not part of the long march either."
She said that the court should take notice of Khan's statement as he is continuously lying about not being disqualified.
Maryam claimed that another big scandal will be exposed soon. "Pakistan had received a diamond set by Graff, one of the leading diamond-manufacturing companies in the world. Khan bought it from the Toshakhana for a price of Rs2 million but sold it off in Dubai for Rs22 million."
Maryam further said that in total, Khan had looted up to Rs50 million from the Toshakhana, which is a property of the nation.
"He will be exposed soon," she said. "Khan is no longer a stakeholder in Pakistani politics".
She also sent condolences to the family of deceased journalist Sadaf Naeem — who was crushed to death in the line of duty while climbing down PTI Chairman Imran Khan's container during the march — and said that the incident forced her to think about the purpose of PTI's long march.
"A precious life was lost. A mother of young children passed away while covering the long march. It forced me to ponder over the purpose of the long march," she said.
Maryam added that had the march been arranged by someone who had not been in power before, it would have made sense, but someone who ruled the country for four years need not hold such marches.
"Look at any area, be it economy, foreign relations, foreign policy, or governance, Imran Khan destroyed all of them during his tenure."
She said that the way the PTI-led government trampled upon the economy of the country, which led to skyrocketing inflation, Khan should not even be able to utter a word anymore.
"Yet, he has taken out a rally on the streets of Pakistan," she said.
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