Nisar says won’t accept Maryam’s leadership

• Former interior minister says he is willing to work under a senior PML-N leader but can’t work under ‘children’

• Says will make report public if party doesn’t call CEC meeting on Dawn Leaks

TAXILA: Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday categorically said that he cannot work under the leadership of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz.

While addressing a press conference in Taxila, Nisar said that he can only work with seniors.

When questioned about his previous remark that Maryam lacked the experience to lead the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Nisar, in turn, asked whether he had said anything wrong at the time.

“You tell me, can I work under children?” he said in a reference to Maryam, adding that “a person has some dignity”.

When pressed again whether he would accept Maryam as the party’s new leader, Nisar said there were many senior leaders in PML-N who could be considered to lead the party.

“Why are you stuck with Maryam and Hamza [Shehbaz Sharif]?” he asked a reporter, before saying, “I can work under a senior but I cannot work under a junior. I am not a political orphan that I refer to a junior as ‘sir’ and ‘madam’.”

He went on to say that he has never violated the party’s code of conduct and that he wrote a letter to Nawaz Sharif to resolve the party’s issues through a proper way.

Irked by a barrage of questions about Maryam, Nisar said in a lighter vein: “Next time there is a presser here, please post a board above saying that it is forbidden to take Maryam Nawaz’s name in this [press conference].”

Speaking about the confrontation with state institutions, Nisar said that there is no difference of opinion among party leaders that confrontation with the higher judiciary of the country is not a wise idea.

Nisar said that differences exist within the party on the “execution” of the policy, adding: “This difference [about confrontation with the judges] has grown deeper and serious. I want to solve it through dialogue.”

The senior PML-N leader stressed that he was not alone in advocating a policy free of a clash with the judiciary, saying that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif propagate the same.

Nisar said that it is common knowledge that he has been a “devil’s advocate” to his party chief Nawaz Sharif and the advice that he presented at a meeting of the federal cabinet last year is also well known.

“When you launch personal attacks on judges it is wrong and I pointed that out,” Nisar said. He said he hadn’t criticised Sharif or his outspoken daughter Maryam Nawaz over their criticism of the judiciary, before asking, “Am I being a hypocrite?”

Nisar said only the upcoming general elections will decide who becomes the prime minister of the country.

Speaking about Dawn leaks report, Nisar Ali Khan warned that he will make public the Dawn leaks report if the PML-N doesn’t call a Central Executive Committee meeting on the issue.

Nisar announced during the presser that he will remain active within the party.