KASUR: PML-N chief organiser and Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz has said the country was yet to get rid of the characters hatching conspiracies against the democracy, and the followers of ‘Baba Rehmat’ have now replaced the RTS (result transmission system), her party blames for its defeat in 2018 elections.

She was addressing a party workers’ convention at Phoolnagar, the constituency of former speaker of the Punjab Assembly Rana Iqbal, on Wednesday. Interior minister Rana Sanaullah, local PML-N leaders and office-bearers were also present.

Referring to the PTI, she said her party was facing a “terrorist outfit” rather than a political party.

She said nothing was more powerful than the state or government and if, the states decided today to arrest PTI Chairman Imran Khan, nothing could stop his arrest.

She also said PML-N was struggling and was in the arena not to win the elections, but to save the country.

The PML-N leader said that Imran Khan was using his party workers to avert his arrest “like a coward”.

Lamenting clashes between police and the PTI workers, she asserted that the followers of Imran Khan were not injuring police personnel, but insulting courts of law and the country’s judicial system.

Ms Nawaz said her party was striving to balance the scale of justice and that, she said, was the “true honor of the vote”.

She claimed that only the PML-N had the potential to protect the interests of Pakistan and its federating units.

She also claimed that no other party in the country had a leader like Nawaz Sharif, when it came to bravery and vision.

Later, talking to the party’s youth wing and social media representatives, she said the youth was the backbone of the PML-N and if elections were delayed, she would start organising the youth wing from Phoolnagar.

Rana Sanaullah said the country was on the road to rapid progress in the 90s, but today it was facing the worst crisis of its history due to a “person who is working on someone else’s agenda,” in a reference to PTI chairman.

The interior minister said terrorism was eliminated during the era of Nawaz Sharif.

He said the current wave of inflation in the country was an outcome of the “wrong policies” of the PTI government and the agreements signed with IMF during the party’s tenure.

He claimed that PML-N would drag the country out of the crisis.

Presiding over a meeting here which assessed the organisational structure and performance of the PML-N’s Lahore division chapter, she said: “We will contest and win election as we have never accepted selection.”

She said playing field had to be even to ensure the respect of vote, which the PML-N was fighting for. Until and unless this balance was created, justice would not be served, she said and regretted that the “conspirators” were still busy doing their job.

She said Nawaz Sharif was the leader, who always protected his workers. “He (Nawaz) has been a shield to the workers, unlike the man hiding behind the workers, women folk and children,” she said referring to Imran Khan.

She said Nawaz Sharif returned from London, along with his daughter to face jail sentence. “He cannot be compared with a man scared of even going to the court”.

“The man prophesying disintegration of the country is now tearing court orders apart and injuring those who carried those orders to Zaman Park,” she said.

She said the PML-N was guarantor of development and dignity of Pakistan. “Its brave workers are its pride and it was a huge privilege to be their leader,” Maryam said, addressing the party workers.

Meanwhile, Hamza Shahbaz on Wednesday submitted his nomination papers for three city constituencies – PP-146, PP-147 and PP-163 .

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2023