PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Saturday took aim at Prime Minister Imran Khan, warning the government against attempting to ‘steal’ upcoming election in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
“Remember [this] vote thieves, if you steal the election, then the Kashmiris won’t let it slide. This is not 2018 […] when you stole the election and the PML-N silently accepted it,” she said while addressing a campaign rally in AJK’s Islamgarh.
“This is no longer that same PML-N. This is the PML-N from Daska, which caught vote thieves during the fog and presented them before the people,” she further said. “I warn vote thieves who are lurking, waiting for the AJK election. If you try to stop the PML-N, try to change [ballot] boxes and change the results, then something very bad is going to happen,” she added.
Maryam Nawaz said Azad Kashmir has announced its decision even before the election, adding that Kashmiris have expressed their support for Nawaz Sharif in upcoming election. She maintained that the PTI’s ministers cannot enter Kashmir and urged the voters to not only vote on July 25 but also safeguard their vote. She told the people to wait at the polling stations until they receive authenticated results on polling day.
The PML-N leader, who is campaigning for election in Azad Kashmir, said that her party had won the Daska by-elections despite rigging. “Imran Khan is initiating his election campaign from his ATM’s constituency,” she said, adding that he is starting his election campaign from the Bagh area because he found an ATM there.
She also called upon the people to refrain from voting for those who had turned their backs on the party. “Those who can’t be loyal to their political party, can’t be loyal to the nation,” she said. “I promise you that there will be a [new] dawn of development in AJK on July 26,” she added. PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif represented Kashmir’s development and occupied Kashmir’s freedom, she claimed.
She asked Kashmiris to not welcome the premier with “eggs and tomatoes” but flower garlands with plaques on them that say “number one flour, sugar, electricity thief”. She criticised the premier’s handling of the Kashmir issue and condemned the aerial firing by Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Khan Gandapur’s guards during his visit to Khun Bandway.
Addressing the recent Dasu bus tragedy, she said it was a “moment of shame” that the Chinese were coming to Pakistan to investigate the incident whereas they came with various development projects during the PML-N’s tenure. She also criticised the premier for inaugurating various road and motorway projects she claimed were initiated by the PML-N, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan had once derided such projects by saying “nations don’t develop through making roads and motorways.”
