‘Jail Bharo’ drive should start with Bushra Bibi: Maryam

ABBOTTABAD: Accusing the former first lady of receiving bribes during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Senior Vice-President Maryam Nawaz on Thursday suggested that detentions should start with Bushra Bibi, the wife of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Geo News reported.

The PMLN chief organiser was referring to the PTI chief’s Jail Bharo (court arrest) movement announced last week.

Addressing a party’s workers convention in Abbottabad, Maryam, while firing a fresh broadside at Imran, said: “Your front person Farah Gogi has fled to Dubai. Your wife received diamond rings and bribes. Hence, the arrests of PTI workers should start with her.”

She added that “the PTI chief signed official files after taking bribes, then why should the workers be arrested?”

“You [Khan] filled your pockets, hence, why should the people fill the jails?” she asked. She went on to say that the PTI chief’s crimes, not wounds — which he sustained during a failed assassination bid in Wazirabad on November 3, 2022 — stopped him from appearing before the court. Imran and his followers can clearly see their fate written on the wall, she added.

Holding Imran Khan responsible for the economic and political turmoil, Maryam alleged that huge funds supposed to be used for the safety of general public were lavishly used on the whim and wishes of Imran.

“The state of Pakistan was made a laboratory for experiment. The country was put at stake by handing over the helm of affairs to a sick-minded person who surrendered to the International Monetary Fund and the nation has to face the repercussions,” she told the convention.

Federal Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb and provincial president of PMLN Amir Muqam, Federal Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir, Sardar Shahjehan, Aurangzeb Nalotha, Inayatullah Khan Jadoon and others were present on the occasion.

The PMLN group led by former chief minister Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan stayed away from the workers convention.

Maryam Nawaz, who is also the chief organiser of the party, said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in particular and the country in general had been ruined by the PTI rule. “They have to pay the price for it though he (Imran) hides in Zaman Park,” she added.

The PMLN leader said that Imran Khan was a self-proclaimed leader full of arrogance who had no concern for the public as well as the country. “He is here only to further his hidden agenda,” she said, adding, Imran Khan had virtually wiped out the accountability institution in the province during his tenure and destabilised all other institutions.

“The universities, colleges, hospitals and other government institutions and organisations were politicised by undue interference during the previous regime, besides, millions of rupees plundered in the shape of commission,” she said, adding that the KP had been kept backward in terms of development for the last over one decade.

Expressing her deep sorrow over the recent Peshawar Police Lines bombing, she said the allocated funds were misused by the-then PTI government instead of improving the strength and capacity of law-enforcing agencies in the KP.

“The PTI government spent Rs128 billion rupees on the BRT Project, which is four times higher as compared to similar projects carried out in Punjab,” she went on to claim. Responding to the slogans of Hazara province, she said: “Give us a two-thirds majority and we will work together to secure the province status for Hazara with consensus.”

Amir Muqam in his speech hoped that the PMLN would win the general election with a thumping majority and form the next government. He stated that Hazara would remain a stronghold of the party.