LAHORE: PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz says Imran Khan’s administration is a ‘government of the mafias, for the mafias, by the mafias,’ saying the more he stays in power, the more the people will suffer.

“(This is a) government of the mafias, for the mafias, by the mafias,” Ms Nawaz said in a series of tweets on Thursday, chiding Prime Minister Imran Khan for adopting delaying tactics in the PTI foreign funding case for the last seven years.

“For the last seven years you (Imran) have been resorting to different gambits like changing your lawyers, stopping the Election Commission from checking your party accounts and seeking in-camera proceedings in the foreign funding case. Now suddenly you changed your stance and sought for open hearing of this case. You need to wait for a little to see what more is going to open,” she said.

Ms Nawaz also criticised the PTI government for increase in petroleum and electricity prices, saying that the more this man (Imran) remained in office, the more the masses would suffer.

On the other hand, PML-N information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb has challenged Imran Khan to fulfill his promise of making all records of the foreign funding case public.

“Imran was only fooling himself with a claim that he wanted open hearing of the PTI foreign funding case. The people of Pakistan will not buy such lies anymore,” she said.

The former information minister said she had already made the PTI petition filed in Islamabad High Court to expose what a certified pathological liar Imran was. The ECP was waiting for Imran’s application to hold the proceedings of the foreign funding case in front of cameras for all to see, she said.

“Imran should first end the ban on media coverage of the foreign funding case with immediate effect and make all details of the 23 secret accounts in this matter public for the entire nation to see. He should also withdraw his application to keep the proceedings of this secret and hidden from all public view,” she said, adding that investigation into foreign funding had also started in the US and lawyers were being hired for that already.

“Imran should tell the nation how much he is paying to his lawyers in the US for this foreign funding case. He should also reveal how he is paying them for it. Is he paying it from government funds or from the illegal money from this illegal foreign funding”, she said.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2021