LAHORE: PML-N Vice Presdient Maryam Nawaz on Saturday defended arrest of former federal minister for human rights and PTI leader Shireen Mazari, saying that the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment would have a reason for it.
“No one is above the law and it has to take its course whenever and wherever it requires.”
PML-N Vice Presdient Maryam Nawaz was addressing the PML-N’s social media team in Lahore on Saturday. Maryam claimed that she came to know about the arrest through a TV channel, saying she was not happy to hear this.
Talking about details of the case against Mazari, Maryam claimed it was registered during the government of former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar on charges of transfer of 800 kanals of state property to a “bogus company”.
“I was hearing on TV that the PTI is playing the aurat (woman) card on this [incident] that a woman was arrested,” she said. Maryam warned the PTI not to resort to the aurat card as she narrated the details and circumstances of her own previous arrests and the “treatment meted” out to her.
“I didn’t play the aurat card … I was also a woman, someone’s daughter and was in jail for a baseless political case but I never feigned being mazloom (oppressed).”
Despite that, Maryam said she did not believe in revenge. She said Mazari should face the charge she has been arrested on and provide answers and evidence to prove it wrong.
“If she is successful in this and proved innocent then I promise the nation that Maryam Nawaz Sharif will be the first one standing with her.
“But this can’t happen that you brutally violate the Constitution and then you start blaming the courts why they were opened at night for you,” the PML-N vice president said, apparently referring to PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
She claimed that Imran was still the blue-eyed of the establishment. In contrast, she said what PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif did was “constructive criticism” of the institutions and asked them to remain within their boundaries.
“Nawaz Sharif isn’t the blue-eyed of the system but is of the nation that brings him [to power] again and again.”
Maryam lashed out at Imran and other PTI officials for their critical comments about the institutions and alleged violations of the Constitution, referring to the events leading up to the no-confidence vote.
Interestingly, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, earlier today, ordered Mazari’s release, saying that he did “not agree with” the arrest and that action would be taken against the anti-corruption staff that was behind the incident.
“As a woman, Shireen Mazari should be respected,” he said in a statement. “The arrest of a woman is not in line with our social values.”
