Maryam Nawaz addresses press conference after court returns passport

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

LAHORE: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz is addressing a press conference after the Lahore High Court ordered the return of her passport, which had been confiscated in 2019.

Maryam the daughter of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif also won a major legal battle last week when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) acquitted the politician in the Avenfield reference, nullifying the conviction handed in 2018 by an accountability court.

At the outset of the press conference, the PML-N leader thanked everyone including the media and her legal team — for helping her in the cases lodged against her.

"I am happy today that I have received my passport, but I would like to ask as to why was I deprived of my fundamental right for three years," the PML-N leader said.

Maryam said that her passport was confiscated when the "foreign-funded fitna (anarchist)" Imran Khan was in power and he was afraid that her jalsas would lead to his ouster.

"My jalsas were going on till 3am at night in support of Mian Nawaz Sharif," she said.

Maryam said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested her — while she was visiting her father in jail under the pretext of investigation.

"They kept me in the NABpremises unlawfully as there was no space to detain women at NAB; they evacuated their daycare centre and held me there," she said.

"They held me there for 57 days," Maryam noted, adding that during the probe, the investigators would ask her questions totally unrelated to the case — including which Paulo Coehlo book was she reading and who sets the menu for her family.

"They did not have any case against me; they confiscated my passport and did not return it for three years," she said.