KHANEWAL/LAHORE   -  Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz on Friday said that despite being unconstitutionally removed from office three times, her father Nawaz Sharif never incited or provoked his workers to attack the state. Maryam Nawaz Sharif stated this while addressing a huge public gathering here in con­nection with the upcoming general elections. “There are ups and downs. There are good and bad times in politics. The leader is the one who does not leave the field,’ the PML-N chief organiser said. 

Maryam Nawaz said that the way PML-N workers faced op­pression and revenge but they stood like a lion.

I salute and pay tribute to your courage, she said. “They used to say that due to inflation who will come out for the PML-N? So I want to tell all of them to open their eyes and see whether it is Okara, Jhelum or Khanewal, the sea of people knows that the Muslim League Nawaz is not re­sponsible for the inflation.” 

Maryam rejected allegations of engaging in revenge politics against Pakistan Tehreek-e-In­saf (PTI), questioning the ac­cusers whether it was her par­ty that had called for an attack on the state on May 9 or waved a cipher during a rally. “Those who are hurling allegations of revenge and a level playing field at us should tell, was it Nawaz Sharif who told you to wave the cipher, attack the state on May 9, attack policemen, hold fake intra-party elections, or set fire to the memorials of martyrs,” Maryam said. The cipher case pertains to a piece of paper that Imran had waved at a public ral­ly on March 27, 2022, ahead of a vote of confidence that he lost.

Addressing concerns about rising inflation, Maryam dis­missed the notion that econom­ic hardships had deterred the support for the PML-N, adding that there was no political party in a position to challenge PML-N in the political arena at the mo­ment. Recounting her own ex­periences, she added, “I faced arrest, learned of my mother’s death in jail, and spent years in jail, yet I did not let my father’s head bow down.”

Maryam said that the unwav­ering support of the people, es­pecially from Khanewal, made his father former prime minis­ter Nawaz Sharif’s return pos­sible. Addressing a large gath­ering at the Railway Ground, she said the people of Khanewal had demonstrated their loyalty in extreme cold and harsh con­ditions, proving that they stand with Quaid Nawaz Sharif. 

Even during the 2018 ma­nipulated elections, they stood firm with their leader, she add­ed. Maryam highlighted that the party faced oppression but its leadership did not bow down, confronted the fake govern­ment through 2018 elections, and stood steadfast. Maryam Nawaz criticised PTI’s fake in­tra-party elections and con­trasted it with those of the PML-N, which were held openly. She asked the youth of Khanewal whether they wanted explosive devices or laptops, and jobs or sticks in their hands.