Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Sunday said that the opposition has been hearing the word traitor for a long time, alleging that the ruling party only uses this term when “they are afraid of someone”.
“When they are afraid of the truth, of talk of the law and Constitution, of bravery, the bag opens and out come labels such as traitor […] or thief,” Maryam Nawaz said after a visit to Javed Latif’s family in Sheikhupura while standing outside his house.
She told a gathering of party leaders, workers and supporters that if speaking of the truth, of the supremacy of the constitution, law and institutions is traitorous, then “we will do this kind of ‘treachery’ again and again”.
PML-N VP said that Latif, with his “unwavering stance on what is right and true”, had “paid his dues being a son of the soil of Pakistan”.
Maryam Nawaz said if being declared a traitor is a crime then Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah would have been the first person to be declared one.
She went on to say that her father, Nawaz Sharif was labeled as a traitor even she herself had been called one.
“If calling what is right, ‘right’, what is true, ‘true’, if speaking of the supremacy of the Constitution and institutions, and of standing by the law, is traitorous, then we will do this treachery again and again,” Maryam said.
Latif has been arrested for issuing what were termed as “anti-state” remarks. His request for pre-arrest bail was denied by the court.
Maryam said that if being declared a traitor is a crime, then the first person to have been declared one was Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah.
She followed by saying even her father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was declared a traitor and so had she herself been labelled one.
“Although Nawaz Sharif is in London, from all corners of the country, decisions and victories in his favour are being witnessed,” she said. About the Daska by-poll, she said the people took the ‘respect the vote’ slogan to heart, guarded their vote, and then took it back when it was ‘stolen from them.
Maryam said that Nawaz made huge sacrifices and the people have now awakened to the truth, “know what their rights are, what the supremacy of the law and constitution is, who believes in it and who the real traitors are.” She said that the real traitor is the one who while in the US sold off Kashmir, and left it in India’s lap.
She said that the times were changing and they had stopped being afraid. Maryam said: “Those they branded as traitors after such efforts were instead adopted as heroes by Pakistan’s 220 million population.”
She said that those who have “opened factories to issue fatwas (decrees) of someone being a traitor”, should start gathering. “When you are afraid, and have lost, and cannot bear to listen to talk of the supremacy of the Constitution, you issue certificates of treachery.”
“Today like Javed Latif when you know you will speak the truth and be arrested and still stick to your guns, there is no greater service to the nation than this,” Maryam said.
The PML-N vice president also talked about the Daska by-election and said that people act upon the slogan “respect the vote”, protected their vote, and took it back when it was “stolen” from them.
