LAHORE: PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday said proceedings under Article 6 of the Constitution should be initiated against those involved in the May 9 riots as they attacked the state.

Referring to the leadership of PTI, she said they instructed their workers to burn the entire country on May 9. “Now they are hurling threats from jail.”

She was talking to media persons after attending the hearing of a case against her in an antiterrorism court (ATC).

Without naming the former prime minister, Imran Khan, she said he first took out a ‘cipher’ from his pocket and later accused caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi of toppling his government.

Alleges party leadership ‘instructed’ workers to burn the country on May 9

The PML-N leader said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was not given a level playing field in 2018 elections as he was sent to jail along with his daughter.

She said PTI leaders wrote articles saying they were not getting a level playing field, but their nomination papers were being accepted.

“But the people of Pakistan are not going to vote for them [PTI],” she said. Accusing the PTI of avoiding elections, Ms Aurangzeb claimed that those responsible for making Pakistan a nuclear power in 1998 would now determine the country’s fate on Feb 8 not those who attacked it on May 9, 2023.

She criticised the PTI for economic mismanagement and asserted that the elections would proceed on the specified date.

The court, where a terror case against her is ongoing, granted a one-time exemption to Javed Latif and adjourned the hearing until next week, seeking arguments on both politicians’ acquittal applications. The case involves alleged religiously motivated hate speech against Mr Khan.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2024