Nawaz will return home soon and lead party: Maryam

LAHORE: Shahbaz Sharif had been arrested solely for his enduring loyalty towards former prime minister and elder brother Nawaz Sharif, said PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz at a news conference on Monday, shortly after the opposition leader’s arrest.

“This movement [against the incumbent political setup] will not suffer a setback due to Shahbaz Sharif’s arrest,” she insisted, adding it would only add fuel to fire, Geo News reported. Maryam said Nawaz would return soon to the country and lead the party with all his strength.

Reacting to Shahbaz’s arrest as “extremely unfortunate”, Maryam said she had no doubt that the PML-N president had been picked up because he chose not to betray his brother, Nawaz Sharif.

Maryam said she did not wish to speak further about the NAB as its credibility had already been “completely eroded” by the Supreme Court’s verdict. “Shahbaz Sharif has his own thinking, according to which he believes that maybe reconciliation makes for better politics. He says this in front of Mian Sahab [Nawaz Sharif], the party and in front of all of us. But when Mian Sahab issues his directives, he is the first one to accept them,” she said.

She said Imran Khan was a “foolish friend” and nobody more than him had given a bad name to state institutions.Maryam said Nawaz would return soon to the country, adding it was difficult for him to leave his wife behind on the deathbed and then his fellow citizens to go for treatment to London. “No one, including a large number of PML-N workers, wants him to return to the country,” she said. “Nawaz Sharif is ill but his passion is not. He will lead the party with all his strength,” she added.