- Marriyum says PM’s family members receive necessary security, not protocol
- Kirmani says PTI chairman to be disqualified in foreign funding case
State Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb has strongly refuted Imran Khan’s tweet in which he had questioned protocol given to Maryam Nawaz on her appearance before the JIT, saying that the PTI chairman was incapable of differentiating between security and protocol.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, she said that Maryam Nawaz being the daughter of the prime minister, who had waged a successful war against the terrorist outfits, was given necessary security to protect her and it was wrong to misconstrue it as a protocol.
In regards to Imran’s observation about excessive deployment of security personnel, she said that thousands of PML-N workers had come from all over the country to show their solidarity with their leader. Therefore, the local administration took all precautionary measures to prevent any untoward incident, she said.
The state minister said that Maryam Nawaz and the family members accompanying her came in their own private cars and Imran should know that those who respected their daughters accompanied them the way the family did. She said that people like Imran who did not even accept their daughters, usually made such irresponsible statements.
Marriyum asked Imran in which capacity he played snake and ladder (Luddo) in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister’s House, adding that the people knew that the snake could climb the ladder to the corridors of power only through playing the game of Luddo.
Talking to media persons outside the Judicial Academy here, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Dr Asif Kirmani said that the Supreme Court should order the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to record statement of the Qatari prince, a prime witness in the case of Panama Papers.
He said that the PML-N was looking for justice and it was important that the Supreme Court should order the JIT to record the statement of the Qatari prince. He said the JIT would only be considered trust worthy if it recorded the prince statement. He said he had some questions to ask from the JIT, which was using taxpayers money to visit Dubai and hire a legal firm in United Kingdom.
He said there were elements who wanted to destabilise Pakistan and the government of Nawaz Sharif. For the last four years, Nawaz Sharif had faced sit-ins and constant conspiracies, he said, adding Pakistan had kept on moving on the path of progress in the tenure of present government.
He said that he still remembered the day of July 5, 1977 when a democratic government was removed and now again Pakistan was going through a critical phase. He said today Maryam Nawaz appeared before JIT as she was summoned by it.
Dr Kirmani said Imran Khan considered himself self-proclaimed ‘Mr Clean’ but he possessed assets which he never declared in his tax returns. He said that Imran Khan was a man of many faces and was playing games, adding Imran Khan would be disqualified because of the foreign funding case against him in the Election Commission.
He termed the statement of Rehman Malik before the JIT as worthless. Kirmani said there was nothing wrong with doing business abroad, adding millions of Pakistanis live abroad and work and run businesses. He said that Nawaz Sharif was not receiving any salary as the prime minister.
Talking to media, Member of National Assembly Muhammad Safdar, the son in law of the prime minister, said that Maryam Nawaz had appeared before the Joint Investigation Team to save Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has done nothing wrong.
“His hands are clean and he has already faced multiple conspiracies before and he will come out from present situation triumphantly,” he said, adding that the whole country was looked after by the prime minister, who has currently gone abroad for making country economically stable.
He said that the conspiracies of opponents would be backed fired and Nawaz Sharif would steer the country towards road to progress and prosperity despite hurdles being created by the vested interests.