File photo. YouTube
In video message, PMLN leader lists officials he will hold responsible if any untoward incident occurs
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday alleged that elements of Pakistan’s security establishment were threatening his daughter, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, with violence if “she does not restrain herself.”
In a video message posted on social media, the PMLN leader warned that if any untoward action occurred, he would hold three senior Army generals as well as Prime Minister Imran Khan responsible.
“First you broke open the Karachi hotel room door where Maryam was spending the night, and now you are threatening her, that if she does not restrain herself, she will be smashed,” he said. “Maryam has been fighting for the people’s mandate,” he said, adding that Allah would protect her.
“I want to inform the people threatening [Maryam] that if any untoward incident occurs, I would hold Imran Khan” as well as three senior military officials responsible,” he said, vowing that they would be held accountable for the grave crimes they have committed.
In the same video—recorded from London where he has been since 2019—Sharif reiterated his claims that the people’s choice had been “trampled” in the 2018 general elections to install an “incompetent person.” He alleged that the security establishment had aided Khan in securing a fresh vote of confidence from the National Assembly after Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s candidate, lost the Islamabad general seat to Yousaf Raza Gilani, the opposition’s joint candidate.
“These actions are not hidden from anyone,” he said, adding that “all records of rigging” had been broken in the Daska by-elections. He also referred to a statement of the military’s spokesman in which he had demanded that the armed forces not be dragged into politics.
In a subsequent posting on Twitter, Maryam claimed that in addition to the threats, she had also been verbally abused.
Earlier, PMLN leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi alleged to media that Pakistan’s institutions were being utilized to “interfere in the Senate [chairman] elections.” Stressing that he did not wish to indulge in any blame game, he claimed that several PMLN senators had been called and “advised” to vote for the government’s candidate for the Senate chairman rather than that of the opposition.