'This is a war': Maryam makes case for PML-N in hotly contested NA-75 by-polls
PML-N vice president says PM Imran Khan is surrounded by "thieves", "reminding" people of party's "services" in Punjab
February 13, 2021
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Saturday said "this is not an election, it is a war, a war which Nawaz Sharif has begun against those who stole your votes".
Her remarks came as she addressed a PML-N campaign rally for by-elections in the NA-75 constituency in Sialkot's Daska tehsil.
The PML-N vice president, throughout her speech, made a case against the incumbent government and sought to "remind" people of the PML-N's "services" in Punjab.
In severe criticism of the government and in particular Prime Minister Imran Khan, she said that when people complain of inflation "he says reduce your expenses".
"Tell me, which of you were given a job of the 10 million jobs promised by the prime minister?" she asked the rally participants, adding: "Has not Punjab been abandoned?"
She claimed that today a "tearful Punjab cries for (former prime minister) Nawaz Sharif and (former Punjab chief minister) Shahbaz Sharif".
Maryam said that he who promised 10 million jobs and five million houses has now "scaled back to chickens, eggs and calves".
"Forget jobs and houses, did any of you get these chickens, eggs or calves?" she asked, adding: "For shame!"
She sought to "remind" everyone that Nawaz Sharif, on the other hand, had set up power plants.
The PML-N leader said that the PTI government, on the other hand, "did not succeed in making a Metro bus even". "They only made potholes in the middle of roads," she said.
Maryam, in further criticism of the Metro bus project said that the project took six years to complete and even then the buses "go up in flames more than they run".
"The ones that do not catch fire, have to be pushed to start," she added.
The PML-N vice president said that PM Imran Khan, however, "is not alone".
"He has flour thieves in front of him, power thieves behind him, gas thieves on the right, sugar thieves on the left and ATMs below," Maryam said.
Maryam said that even if PML-N fails to secure a single seat in Senate, "the PML-N and Nawaz Sharif will never sit down with this lying, incompetent Imran Khan".
By-polls in NA-75 after seat falls vacant
The NA-75 seat fell vacant when PML-N MNA Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah died of coronavirus on August 2. By-polls for the seat , along with provincial assembly seat PP-51, will be held on February 19.
According to a Dawn report, PPP candidates Qamar Zaman Kaira and Sumera Sahi withdrew their candidature to support the PML-N on both these seats.
"For both the by-polls, the PML-N has chosen family members of the deceased lawmakers who held the seats previously. Nosheen Iftikhar — the daughter of former MNA Zahry Shah — and Talat Cheema — the widow of former MPA Shaukat Cheema — have been given the party tickets for NA-75 and PP-51, respectively," read the report.
