Islamabad: The daughter of jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam, has ruled out any compromise with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
Maryam said her father Nawaz Sharif rejected offers for a deal as the conditions attached were unacceptable.
She was talking to reporters after attending a court hearing in the Accountability Court on Friday.
With an image of her father and slogan ‘Free Nawaz Sharif’ embossed on her black shirt, Maryam, who is vice-president of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said even if she and her party allowed PM Imran Khan’s government to continue, the people of Pakistan would not let them carry on as they had unleashed “miseries” on their lives.
When asked whether she was approached by some government representative to negotiate a deal for her father’s release she confirmed reports about having met some “quarters”, however she made it clear she had met only those representing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
“Compromising with the present government is like stabbing the people in the back, as well as [betraying] democracy in Pakistan,” she said.
She said it was not in Imran’s power to give a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to anyone.
“He is not able to keep a minister on a portfolio even for 24 hours,” she said.
Maryam who felt quite relieved after dismissal of the plea by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against her over a ‘bogus trust deed’ had a dialogue with the NAB prosecutor in the courtroom.
During the proceedings, she approached the rostrum and asked why it had taken the NAB a year to file a plea, when the same case was adjudicated by the bureau.
To this, the NAB prosecutor said, “It is never too late.”
Maryam bluntly replied, “Sometimes it is.”
In its three-page judgment the Accountability Court dismissed the NAB’s plea on the basis of the fact that her appeal against the Avenfield properties verdict was already pending in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
