Nawaz Sharif ousted from PM office on expired Iqama: Maryam

Lahore: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said Sunday that her father Nawaz Sharif was ousted from the prime minister office over an “expired iqama” but no one summoned Asif Saleem Bajwa to explain his assets.

“Does anyone have the courage to summon Asim Saleem Bajwa and ask him how did he earn so much wealth,” questioned Maryam while addressing an event of the PML-N media cell.

In August, a website called Fact Focus published a story that claimed that Bajwa’s family has set up 99 companies in four countries, including a pizza franchise with 133 restaurants.

The website claimed that Bajwa’s wife is a shareholder in at least 86 of the companies. Of them, 71 were set up in the US, seven in the UAE and four in Canada.

Bajwa, however, rejected the story as “incorrect” and “false”. He said that his wife was no longer an investor or shareholder in any business on the date of filing of his asset declaration as PM’s aide. The declaration was filed on June 22, 2020.

Maryam said that journalists critical of the government were sacked from their organisations because the government told them that their channels would be shut if they don’t fire certain journalists.

“Matiullah Jan disappeared in broad daylight… Ali Imran disappeared, and they all were picked up from their homes,” said the PML-N leader. “The fake prime minister says on TV ‘I don know who picked them’.”

In an interview with Express News last week, PM Khan had said he didn’t know what happened with journalists but they came back after he took notice of their disappearance.

“I don’t have an idea what really happened with them,” PM Khan had said. “Every time we took notice of their disappearance, the missing person was retrieved.”

Maryam, while mocking the premier, said that he didn’t know anything about journalists’ disappearance, raid on her hotel room in Karachi or Sindh IG’s kidnapping but he calls himself the prime minister.

She asked media not to be pressured. “Media should refuse to become anyone’s tool,” she said.