Maryam made backdoor contacts to flee to UK: Minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has claimed that Maryam Nawaz wants to go to London, for which she made backdoor contacts with the government.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Chaudhry said that Prime Minister Imran Khan rejected Maryam’s request.

He wrote that the PML-N vice president should fulfil her desire to run a movement but for that she has to stay in Pakistan.

Earlier, Maryam has said that she needed a minor surgery which could not be done in Pakistan but would not request the government to take her name off the Exit Control List (ECL).

“I do not wish to go anywhere; I want to live in Pakistan. Even if someone comes to my house and requests me to leave the country, I won’t,” she told reporters.

Maryam said that those who had been “imposed” on the masses would have to be stopped, adding that people from every province were rising against inflation. “I pity the bureaucracy and government servants.”

She criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for issuing Senate tickets to millionaires and billionaires. “People from every province in Pakistan have stood up to the PTI,” she said, referring to protests by its leaders in Sindh and Balochistan over the award of Senate tickets.

“Imran used to say that he had struggled for 22 years. Has he not found anyone in the PTI to award Senate tickets in all these 22 years? The prime minister atacks other parties but has himself awarded tickets to millionaires and billionaires.”

Maryam said that former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was a unanimous candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which was trying to send prominent leaders to the Upper House.

“The PML-N awarded Senate tickets to workers and those who have struggled for the party. Nawaz Sharif did not issue tickets to any billionaire. Keeping the situation in mind, I fear a no-confidence movement will begin in Senate elections.”