Game is over, says Maryam Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: The opposition main leadership on Monday came down hard on Prime Minister Imran Khan and other ministers for criticising ‘neutrality’ of an institution, saying that an atmosphere of neutrality had, in fact, ‘deflated’ the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the premier.

They called upon PM Imran Khan to accept his defeat as the ‘game was over’ for him now.

Opposition leader in the National Assembly and PMLN President Shehbaz Sharif, Vice President Maryam Nawaz, and party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, senior party leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira and Faisal Karim Kundi, and Balochistan National Party Mengal (BNPM) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal spoke to the media at difference places and criticised the government attempts to escape the no-trust motion on one pretext or the other.

Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto accused the speaker of violating the Constitution by not convening the National Assembly session within 14-day constitutional time-frame.

“The speaker violated the 14-day time period bar, which is a violation of the Constitution. It is unconstitutional to convene a meeting on March 25, instead of March 21,” said Shehbaz while addressing a press conference, along with Bilawal Bhutto and the chief of BNPM Sardar Akhtar Mengal here outside the Supreme Court on Monday.

Shehbaz said the NA speaker should have convened the Assembly session before the OIC foreign ministers meeting. “The speaker deliberately deviated from the Constitution and tried to trap the opposition,” he said. He said “we hope the Attorney General will stand by his commitment made with the Supreme Court”.

The opposition leader said “we have postponed our long march because of the OIC as they are our guests and brothers, who are coming to attend the OIC conference. “We welcome them and the government propaganda in this regard is baseless,” he said.

Bilawal said the government and the NA speaker had violated the Constitution. “We hope the judiciary will stand by the Constitution, law and democracy, and not any particular party,” he said.

He said the political parties did not approach the court but the bar councils, and the PPP was thankful to the Supreme Court chief justice for taking notice of the attack on the Sindh House and calling all the parties to present their viewpoint. “We have to struggle politically in the parliament, and the constitutional and legal struggle will be fought in courts,” he said.

He said the government was running away from the no-confidence motion, so much so that it has resorted to violating the Constitution. Bilawal said the government was trying to push the speaker towards Article 6. “Every member of the assembly has the right to vote,” he added.

The PPP chairman said the government first attacked the lodges and arrested the members of the National Assembly and then the Sindh House when the members went there for protection. “The attack on Sindh House is an attack on the federation and democracy,” he said, adding that the government resorted to spreading terror.

Separately, PMLN Vice President Maryam Nawaz asked Prime Minister Imran Khan why he was angry with an institution if it wanted to stay 'neutral' and abide by the Constitution. "What is being neutral? It is like abiding by the Constitution," she said while talking to the media after appearing before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) here. She said Imran Khan was like a fish out of water once an atmosphere of 'neutral' had started.

Maryam said Imran Khan wanted someone to complete the required numbers in the National Assembly, manage the media and put his opponents in prisons. "What do you want from them? “Your numbers were never complete after 2018 elections, Senate chairman elections and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan elections," she said.

She recalled that if an institution was not ready to act as per his (Imran Khan) desires, then he was calling them as animals.

Maryam said that during Imran Khan's tenure, none of institutions like National Accountability Bureau remained neutral. She said Imran Khan's game was over and now no one would come to save him and he has no prospects in the country's politics. "You are crying for help that somebody should come to save you," she said.

Responding to a question, the PMLN leader said what to talk about bring one million people at D-Chowk, he could not manage his own 10 members and the party was slipping out of his hands.

"How can we purchase your people when they are not going to stay with you even when you are in the government," Maryam said.

To a question that Imran Khan was saying that he was being punished and an international conspiracy was being hatched against him for following sovereign foreign policy, she said: "Where was your sovereign foreign policy when you were waiting for Biden's call and you bargained on Kashmir during your US visit."

She said that people laugh at Imran Khan when he said that a conspiracy was being hatched against him, saying that he was suffering because of his unwise policies and absurd thinking. "People have shown him the red card and he will be held accountable for his deeds," she added.

Maryam claimed that Nawaz Sharif faced great hardship but he never used threatening language against anyone. "No one is there to teach Imran Khan how to show grace under pressure," she said adding that Imran Khan also used religion to save himself.

She said Imran Khan forgot that Islam forbids name-calling his opponents. She said as a mother she would advise mothers to not allow their children to watch a television channel when he (Imran) addresses a public rally in uncivilised language.

PPP senior leaders Qamar Zaman Kaira and Faisal Karim Kundi advised PM Imran Khan to accept his defeat; otherwise, the parliament would send him packing through a vote of no-confidence. “Imran used to say that if 50 people will ask him to resign, he will tender his resignation. But now everyone wanted that he should go home, as he has lost his majority in the parliament, but he is not resigning from his office,” Kaira and Faisal Kundi told a press conference here.

Kaira said the National Assembly speaker violated the Constitution by not convening a requisite session of the National Assembly on March 21. He said the PPP respected the OIC FMs session but gives respect to the Constitution of Pakistan more than it.

Our correspondent adds from Lahore: PMLN spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb warned Prime Minister Imran Khan and National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser against taking unconstitutional measures on the vote of no-confidence motion.

In a statement, she said the PM and the NA speaker had already violated the Constitution by not fulfilling the constitutional requirement of holding NA session in 14 days. She said Imran and Asad Qaiser committed a crime punishable under Article 6.

“By not convening a meeting in 14 days, the speaker violated his oath and the Constitution. It is reprehensible, regrettable and totally unconstitutional for the speaker not to convene [assembly session] in 14 days despite the sole interpretation of the Constitution,” the former information minister said.

Marriyum said the speaker’s attitude would be written in black letters in history as he was giving priority to the interest of the party chairman over the Constitution.

“Imran loves power so much that he has trampled on the Constitution for one more day. Violation of the Constitution is treason and rebellion, be prepared for punishment,” Marriyum told Imran.

PPI adds: Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief and head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF) Maulana Fazlur Rehman Monday said that struggle would continue against the incompetent government until people got rid of it.

Talking to the media in Islamabad, the JUI-F chief said the whole history of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was full of contradictions. Today even their own parliamentarians were not happy with the government, he added.

Fazl asked whether that was not horse-trading when parliamentarians were being brought in plane to announce their allegiance to the government. But today, when all such parliamentarians were leaving the government, the opposition was being accused of horse-trading, he added.