PTI government a sinking ship, says Maryam Nawaz after securing bail

LAHORE:  With just two days to go, Lahore High Court (LHC) provided relief to PML-N after it approved the protective bail of party's vice president Maryam Nawaz  who is set to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for graft cases pending against her.

The bail was approved by a two-member bench after the LHC CJ approved an urgent hearing on the summons sent by NAB to Maryam Nawaz.

The case was heard by a two member bench, comprising Justice Sardar Sarfaraz Dogar and Justice Asjad Javed. 

The bail of the PML-N leader was approved against two bonds of Rs1 million each.

Earlier, the PML-N leader had appealed to the high court for an urgent hearing of her case.

Maryam has been asked to appear before NAB on March 26 in relation to the Chaudhry Sugar Mills and Raiwind land cases.

Maryam, in her plea through he counsel Azam Nazeer Tarar, claimed that the anti-corruption watchdog has a "tradition" of arresting people after inviting them for questioning.

Maryam further alleged that the bureau wants to arrest her due to "pressure" from the government. She added that the watchdog was targeting political opponents over the government's instructions.

“[Prime Minister] Imran Khan can arrest the petitioner on March 26 to save his government,” the court was told by Maryam's counsel.

The petition noted that NAB has summoned Maryam over a case concerning 1,500 kanals of land, adding that she wants to be part of the investigation but fears arrest.

She appealed to the court to approve pre-arrest bail for her in the case.

The court, after seeing the petition, agreed to an urgent hearing of the case and later granted the request.

PTI government a sinking ship: Maryam

In her media talk after the hearing, Maryam claimed that the PTI government was in "trouble" and had become a "sinking ship". 

Maryam vowed that the PML-N will not give NAB an opportunity to “save Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sinking ship”.

Speaking about the case, Maryam said it was “political” and based on “revenge”. She added that she exposed the ruling party by going through the revengeful tactics of the government.

“[Will not become] an easy prey for them this time. They have their own strategy, we have our own strategy,” said the PML-N leader. She added that she has decided to stop their revenge and face the government.

The PML-N leader also claimed that NAB was being run by everyone but the anti-corruption watchdog.