Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz said on Thursday that former prime minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had started preparations for returning to the country and that he would be back in the country in a few weeks’ time, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Talking to the media in Bahawalpur, she, however, said that she could not give the date of Nawaz’s return unless his ticket was confirmed. 

She said, unlike Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, the PML-N did not need anybody’s support.

Reacting to the allegations of political victimization by the PTI, Maryam said the party leaders were reaping what they had sowed. “If they have done anything wrong, they deserve punishment,” she said.    

Responding to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s resignation from the party post, she said she would speak her mind to him and try to address his concerns. 

Expressing her grief over the Peshawar mosque blast, PML-N stalwart said it was unfortunate that so many lives were lost in the incident.   

Maryam also hit out at the last PTI government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying it failed to build a single forensic lab during its 10-year rule in the province. “The result is even today the law-enforcement agencies have to rely on the forensic lab of Lahore,” she said.

She said it was Imran who had called Taliban ‘friends’. “So much so she opened the country’s frontiers for them,” she alleged. 

Senior PML-N leader claimed that the party’s narrative was based on facts. “The PML-N still stands by journalists,” she said.

Maryam lashed out at the PTI chief, saying it was he, who had struck deals with the IMF when he was the country’s prime minister, and thus tied the hands of the present government. “Now even if we want to give relief to masses, we can’t,” she said, adding, “The country could even head towards a ‘default’.”

PML-N Senior Vice President dispelled the impression that the party was afraid of elections, saying the PML-N was the representative of people. “We know who is responsible for today’s price hike,” she said, and added, “Actually we started calling the shots after November 28. Since until that date, Imran’s ‘blue-eyed boys’ were in the establishment.”  

She claimed that the PML-N would win the next general elections with a thumping majority.