LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to impose a ban on Maryam Nawaz for running her mother’s election campaign after the NAB’s decision to file a reference against her as accused person in Panama case.
PPP candidate for by-election in NA-120 Faisal Mir on Thursday while addressing a press conference and exclusively talking to Daily Times at his main election office at Neeli Bar in Krishan Nagar said that deposed premier Nawaz Sharif’s daughter had been declared an accused person in offshore companies case so now she had no right to run the campaign anymore, as it would be a violation of the code of conduct of the ECP.
Faisal along with the PPP Lahore Chapter President Azizur Rehman Chan said that there was no future for Nawaz Sharif in politics.
He also alleged that the PML-N’s ministers, MNAs, MPAs and other authorities were continuously participating in the by-election campaign of their candidate Kulsoom Nawaz but no action was being taken against them.
He said that the PPP was facing several obstacles including harassment of workers from the goons of PML-N and the PTI, while firing in front of his party office was also done by the ruling party at the behest of Federal Minister Pervaiz Malik, provincial ministers Bilal Yasin and Rana Sanaullah and other legislators like Majid Zahoor, but the case was still not registered by the police despite a lapse of two days.
The PPP candidate said the police were pressurising them to exclude the names of the ministers and other PML-N legislators who were mentioned in the PPP’s application. He confirmed that they had no fear of goons of the rulers or any other party, as they had already faced more crucial situations in the military governments in the past. He also referred to a complaint of removing banners, flexes and other campaigning materiel of his party by the rivals in the constituency.
Faisal said that the ECP had become inactive in the matter of controlling violations of the code of conduct and maintaining law and order in the constituency to give level playing field to the PPP, as the police were completely under the control of the ruling party – PML-N candidate Kulsoom Nawaz’s brother-in-law Shehbaz Sharif and nephew Hamza Shehbaz Sharif.
On the issue of hearing the petition of PPP in the Lahore High Court against Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif on her contradictions in the nomination papers – she declared jewellery worth Rs 0.1 million and total property assets worth Rs 20 million – he showed surprise over the constituting and later dissolving of the full bench of the court. He said that the people wanted to know the reasons for this, as time was passing speedily. He wished to get a decision in the case before the election day on September 17.
Earlier, a delegation of lawyers headed by a member of the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Enayat Ullah Moriyo, met the PPP candidate and district president and showed the support of progressive lawyers’ community to them in the by-election in NA-120. It is worthy to mention here that the sessions court, civil court and district court fall in the same constituency, and many lawyers have their chambers in the area.
Published in Daily Times, September 8th 2017.
