Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Friday termed the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) a ‘virus’ which has eaten up Kashmir and has put it at the mercy of the Indian forces.
“How will you face Kashmiris after mercilessly leaving them at the mercy of the Indians?” Maryam Nawaz questioned the premier while addressing a rally to kick off party’s campaign for July 25 elections. “Who gave you the right to sell the blood and honour of the people of Kashmir?” she further asked. “I speak about Kashmir and that is why I am here. I will also talk about how the one who had stolen your votes, deprived you of wheat, sugar, electricity and medicines, and what things you must ask from (Prime Minister) Imran Khan.”
Maryam Nawaz criticised the prime minister by calling him ‘Kashmir Farosh’ (Kashmir seller), asking what would a man who had spent all his life in the playground know about a thing such as foreign policy. “The bat that he used in the cricket ground is the same one he used to hit and kill the people of Pakistan,” she said. “Imran Khan has no right to play with the lives of the 220 million population if he is so incompetent and cannot defend their rights.”
The PML-N leader sought to remind the gathering that she is a Kashmiri with Kashmiri blood coursing through her veins. She said when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister; he did not allow the people to beg for wheat and sugar standing in lines whereas Imran Khan treated the masses like beggars for only one bag of sugar. In addition, she pointed out that these were the first summers in Pakistan in which the country was historically facing load shedding of gas at the hands of the incumbent government. “The selectors who are now supporting Imran were against Nawaz Sharif when he was taking measures to provide relief to the masses,” she alleged.
Maryam flayed the uncontrolled inflation levels in PTI government, stating that the cost of sugar, roti and medicines had surpassed all heights. Prices of medicines had increased by 600%, she said, and promised that the people of Kashmir would not be subjected to the same problems faced by the Pakistani people and that they would not be burdened with the gas, inflation and electricity crisis they had previously faced.
She said Imran Khan is now again talking about approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF), hinting “he doesn’t have money to provide people with food supplies, but he has enough resources and money to buy votes in the AJK elections,” she claimed, and alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan is spending money to ‘buy votes’ahead of the July 25 general elections in Azad and Jammu Kashmir (AJK). She called upon people to rein in and ‘catch’ Imran Khan if he attempts to ‘rig’ the AJK elections, like people caught ‘manipulators’ in the Daska by-election. She also castigated the premier for “letting people suffer during the last Ramazan just to get a 1kg sack of sugar.” She insisted the PML-N would not allow the ‘sun of selection’ to rise in Kashmir.
