PML-N lashes out at PTI for maligning Punjab CM Maryam

Calling PTI ‘fitna’ party, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari said on Thursday it was unfortunate that the party’s social media propagandists had launched a character assassination campaign against Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for buying a plane, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

In a video statement, she said the question was whether the PTI leaders used rickshaws to commute from one place to another when their party was in power. “When Imran Khan was the prime minister, a plane was used to take him from his Banigala residence to his office and vice versa,” she added.

The minister said the YouTubers, who were sitting abroad, were behind the campaign. “It is unfortunate that these YouTubers call themselves journalists,” she said, adding that not only they, but several other journalists also called them journalists.

“But when action is taken against such people, it is portrayed as a political revenge. It is said that the right to free speech is being taken away from them,” she lamented.

The minister said that the truth of the matter was that mudslinging against CM Maryam had been going on since 2014. “I don’t think journalists can post such a derogatory content,” she opined.

“I can only sympathize with the wives of such sick people who are tolerating them.” 

She went on to say that 150 Vlogues and 100 TV programmes were telecast on the plane issue. Azma said she had a lot to say about the private lives of PTI leaders and their founder, but she had been trained as a politician and would not say anything concerning their lives. “The chief minister is least bothered about their loose talk,” Azma said, adding that CM Maryam was serving the people of Punjab.

“She has announced Rs40billion Ramadan Package for the masses; launched electric bus service; initiated a programme to give loans to deserving families on easy installments so that they could start their businesses and also launched ‘Dhee Rani’ programme.