Ex-CJP Khosa asked Nawaz for extension: Maryam

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) Senior Vice President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz has claimed that former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa had asked her father and party supremo Nawaz Sharif for an extension in his service.

In a talk with a private news channel, she asked Justice (retd) Khosa to testify on Quran if talks about his extension as the chief justice were not in the air. Maryam, time and again, had blamed Justice Khosa for being part of a conspiracy against Nawaz Sharif.

She said that had Nawaz Sharif agreed, Khosa would have been the chief justice, and Umar Ata Bandial would not have been in the seat today. She said there were even talks of increasing the retirement age of the Supreme Court judges which, she claimed, was aimed to benefit Justice Khosa.

She said a delegation had conveyed Khosa’s message to Nawaz Sharif, who was in jail at that time, claiming that the PMLN supremo had refused to grant an extension. In 2017, former CJP Khosa headed an SC bench that had disqualified Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case.

Meanwhile, PMLN Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz told the PMLN Youth Wing members on Thursday that PTI Chairman Imran Khan had lost his senses after losing his crutches, as he had always been dependent on his facilitators. She said they [PTI leaders] were demanding for immediate elections, but they should be rest assured that elections would be held only after a real accountability process in the country.

“If they are interested in elections, they should be aware of the fact that huge money would be spent on the process. If elections are held, and he wins from one of the provinces, who will guarantee that he will not dissolve the assembly again. He is a mentally ill person,” Maryam said while referring to Imran Khan.

She said the standards of justice should be equal for all, claiming that Imran Khan appeared in courts once or twice over genuine corruption cases registered against him, but Nawaz Sharif and other PMLN leaders appeared in courts 200 times in connection with the hearing of false cases registered against them.

Maryam said whenever courts called Imran Khan, he said there were threats to his life, though he was always ready to lead rallies. She said the one who used to make fun of other’s illness was now seeking an exemption from appearance on the pretext of diseases.

“Imran Khan is such a coward who is using his workers as a shield, while his own children are sitting in London,” she said adding that policemen, who were injured by the PTI people on Wednesday, were also someone’s sons and brothers. Their lives were as precious as those of Imran Khan’s sons Qasim and Sulaiman. She regretted that Imran Khan lied to the nation about his daughter.

Terming Imran Khan a cowardly person like a jackal, she said the difference between a leader and a geedar [jackal], was that the leader takes to the streets along with his party workers, but a geedar stays back in his den for fear of his life.“Imran Khan himself is sitting at home, and asking the PTI youths to participate in Jail Bharo Tehreek,” she said and added that it was the first political movement of its kind in the world in which the leader was hiding at his home.

She reiterated that Nawaz Sharif was the real leader, who came to Pakistan to court arrest along with his daughter. She regretted that the PTI was only spreading chaos and all of them should be held accountable.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Shiza Fatima, parliamentarians and other party leaders were also present.

The PMLN leader said the young people could help increase exports of the country and the future of Pakistan was now in the hands of young generation. She added the PMLN wanted to bring the young generation forward in all fields, especially in the information-technology (IT) sector. The youth were the country’s valuable asset and the PMLN was working day and night to secure their future, she said.

Maryam said most of the country’s population consisted of youths, but some people were using them as political fuel. She claimed that the majority of the young parliamentarians belonged to the PMLN and announced that a larger number of youth would represent the PMLN in the upcoming parliament.

She asked why brain drain was happening in Pakistan, adding that it was the responsibility of the government to provide job and employment opportunities to the youth. She said the youth should be working for the country instead of fighting with the law-enforcement forces on roads.

Maryam said: “Violence against political workers is not acceptable in any case, but political workers should not take the law into their hands.” She demanded that there should be a full investigation into the death of a PTI worker. She said it was painful for her to see that the elderly father of the dead political activist was called to Zaman Park for offering condolences. The PTI chief was sitting in front of the bereaved father in a style as if nothing had happened. “I have not seen such humiliation of a party worker,” she added.

Strongly criticising Imran Khan, she said the PTI chief was a person “whose house is run by someone else, who sold out the gifts of the country and whose wife asks for a diamond ring in exchange for signing of files”. How come he would run the country, she asked.

Maryam said when the PMLN left Pakistan in 2018, it was developing, but after Imran Khan’s tenure, the country was nose-diving.

Earlier, Special Assistant Shiza Fatima and Syed Ashiq Hussain Shah Kirmani also addressed the gathering.

Meanwhile, the PMLN appointed youth coordinators for all districts of Punjab.

Maryam Nawaz also nominated a 20-member advisory committee on behalf of the party.