Plotters should fear Nawaz: Maryam

ISLAMABAD: Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday said that her father Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has the ability to bounce back in the face of conspiracies, so avoid pushing him to the point where he would be compelled to spill the beans and reveal those who are plotting against him.

Talking to the media persons after her appearance before the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), she said the conspirators believe that Nawaz Sharif would face conspiracies but not reveal their faces before the public given the national interests of the country but they should be fearful of the time when Nawaz Sharif would reveal the truth before the people in the 2018 general elections.

“If the conspiracies against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif continued, he will bounce back with more power as he always did in the past. So stop him (Nawaz Sharif) or the power crisis will end, stop him or the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will be completed, stophim or he will win the 2018 elections,” she said. She said Nawaz Sharif will win and again become more powerful Prime Minister for the fourth and fifth time.

Maryam Nawaz, who appeared quite composed but repeatedly dismissed reporters’ questions during her media talk, said she tried to provide answers with honesty to all the questions raised by the JIT members.

“I asked the JIT about the allegations against the Sharif family but I was given no answer. Contrary to the legal practices in the world, this is perhaps the first JIT that is finding out allegations after its constitution,” she said.

She said: “It is a matter of pride for Nawaz Sharif that he remained the Punjab chief minister and was elected prime minister thrice but the JIT has not found a single allegation of corruption during all his tenures and it is asking questions only related to the personal business of the past decades.”

Maryam said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif carried out a number of projects including motorways, the CPEC and power projects but no one found out any traces of corruption in these multi-billion projects.

If there is corruption of even a single rupee in the government funds, then anyone can be made accountable but no one has the right to ask questions about those matters that are entirely related to the private business, she said.

She said: “We can and have justified financial sources of all our properties and our three generations have faced accountability but those who are involved in misuse of the public funds have taken stay orders from the courts.”

Maryam raised a question: “Why the questions are not being asked from those who have hands in the pockets of other people and who obtain donations as they have no business or source of income.

“If anyone says that I would make them (the Sharif family members) cry then he must listen that it is only Allah Who can do it. Being members of the ruling family we have found a chance to give answers for all our acts. But I am fearful about the fate of that person who carries a huge burden of lies he made before the people of this country,” she said.

She said by involving the name of the daughter, the opponents want to bring the prime minister under pressure. They also got me involved in the DawnLeaks because they wanted to mount pressure on Nawaz Sharif but she wants to make it clear that those who think that she is weakness of her father would find her his strength.

Maryam said: “I am daughter of such a person who taught me never to bow down and always stand for truth but those people will not understand it who have no regard for daughters and family values.” She said that if a daughter is in her father’s heart, she is Fatima Zahra, and if she becomes flag-bearer, she is Bibi Zainab.

She pointed out that they had legal options and technical grounds to avoid accountability and they could also use backpain to go to hospital instead of the court and hide in government rest house of Nathiagali after being declared as absconder from the court but they presented themselves for accountability.

“The people who have filed petitions against us have their own offshore companies but their offshore companies are ‘halal (legal)’ because their names have not been mentioned in the PanamaLeaks,” she said.

“I appeared before the probe body despite the fact that my name was not mentioned in the orders of the Supreme Court,” she said.She said the petitioners failed to prove any of their allegations against her whether it is ‘dependency status’ or ‘beneficial ownership’ but still she appeared before the JIT because she is daughter of the nation and of that person who always believed in the supremacy of law and the Constitution.

She paid rich tributes to the party workers who either reached the FJA or prayed for her everywhere from Pakistan and stated “I will always remember this courtesy, love and affection showered on me by the party workers.”

Earlier, Maryam Nawaz appeared before the JIT for the first time and recorded statement during her almost two-hour long interrogation over the issues related to the PanamaLeaks case.Maryam Nawaz was the sixth member of the Sharif family who appeared before the JIT formed on May 6 in the light of the Supreme Court’s April 20 judgment in the PanamaLeaks case.

Before leaving the Prime Minister House for the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA), Maryam hugged her mother Kulsoom Nawaz who warmly greeted and prayed for her. Then she moved towards the FJA in a car that was being driven by Captain (R) Muhammad Safdar. A convoy of twelve vehicles mostly carrying security officials accompanied her car from the PM House to the FJA.

Maryam Nawaz arrived at the FJA in a car along with her son Junaid Safdar, brothers Hussain Nawaz, Hasan Nawaz, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Special Assistant to Prime Minister Syed Asif Kirmani.

The unprecedented security measures were put in place outside the FJA involving 2,500 policemen and security personnel besides number of helicopters that were continuously hovering in the sky. These kinds of security measures were taken only when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived at the FJA for his appearance before the JIT.

It was really a tough test for the policemen when Maryam Nawaz came out of her car because the charged and emotional supporters of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N)—both male and female— passionately rushed towards her car. The policemen responded strongly and finally managed to stop them from crossing the barbed wires.

Maryam Nawaz raised her hand to the party workers who was raising slogans like “Teri Awaz Meri Awaz Maryam Nawaz (Your Voice My Voice Maryam Nawaz) and “Qoum Ki Beti Maryam Nawaz (Daughter of Nation Maryam Nawaz)”.

Captain (R) Muhammad Safdar, Junaid Safdar, Hussain Nawaz, Hasan Nawaz and Marriyum Aurangzeb accompanied Maryam Nawaz to the entrance of the FJA where they stayed for some time.

Sources said that Maryam Nawaz was asked number of questions related to offshore companies, the London Mayfair flats, tax details, bank transactions, estates owned by her and Sharif family, exchange of gifts worth millions of rupees, expenditures on foreign education of her children and travel expenses.

They said she was asked about her tax returns in which there was no mention of either offshore companies or the London Mayfair flats, adding: “The JIT asked her who is the real beneficial owner of M/s Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited, owned by Hussain Nawaz.”

According to the sources, she maintained that she had no property abroad and neither is and nor ever was the beneficial owner of the offshore companies — Nescoll and Nielson.

They said Maryam Nawaz informed the JIT that her brother made her a trustee in one of his corporations which only entitles her to distribute assets, if needed, to Hussain’s family/ children.

Maryam was asked about her investments that included 5,401,455 shares of Chaudhry Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs9m); 270,000 shares of Ramzan Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs2.7m); 164,000 shares of Hamza Spining Mills Ltd (Rs1.6m); 482,100 shares of Muhammad Bakhsh Textile Mills Ltd (Rs4.8m); 424,200 shares of Hudaibiya Paper Mills Ltd (Rs4.2m); 12,270 shares of Hudaibiya Engineering Company (Pvt) Ltd. (Rs1.2m) and 700,000 shares of Shamim Sugar Mills Ltd (Rs70m).

According to the documents submitted to the JIT, Maryam Nawaz in 2012 owned agriculture property of 43 Kanal, 9 Marla Land at Mouza Sultankey, 67 Kanal 5 Marla at Mouza Mall worth Rs32m and 140 Kanal 3 Marla Land at Mouza Sultankey worth Rs42m.

She also declared to have a BMW vehicle worth Rs28 million. She had three bank accounts with total Rs1.8 million balance. Maryam declared Rs0.2m worth jewellery and Rs2.7m cash in hand. She also showed Rs19m as profit on the BMW.

Maryam Nawaz was asked about a profit worth Rs19.6 million on a BMW car that she received in 2006. She was asked about her ‘dependent status’ on which she maintained that she had never been dependent on her father since her marriage in December 1992.

In the documents submitted by her it has been made clear that the prime minister gave gifts to her through banks and thus allegation of tax theft is totally incorrect.The petitions claimed that since Maryam was a dependent of Nawaz Sharif, she should have declared the Mayfair properties in her wealth statement.

However, the verdict of the Supreme Court in the PanamaLeaks case stated: “Maryam Nawaz has received cash gifts from her father in substantial amounts on various occasions… receipt of gifts from the father does not necessarily make Respondent No 6 (Maryam Nawaz) his (Nawaz Sharif) dependent in the legal sense of the word.”

In response to the arguments that Maryam lives in the Sharifs’ family house, the verdict said: “The mere fact that she has chosen to live in a compound owned by her grandmother does not ipso facto make her a dependent of Respondent No 1 (Nawaz Sharif) either.”