Former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, on Saturday, hinted at daughter Maryam Nawaaz being his political heir, when he called her 'daughter of the soil'. Sharif, on Saturday, was addressing a mammoth rally at Minar-e-Pakistan after he returned to the country after being in self-imposed exile for four years.
His daughter Maryam Nawaz said that the return of her father Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan after four years was the biggest day of her life and predicted that the country will see the former prime minister staging another comeback in politics, according to an AP report.
“The pain and suffering that Nawaz Sharif endured in the last 24 years are hardly comparable, and there are some wounds that will never heal, but the amount of times Nawaz Sharif has risen is probably not the same for anyone else,” Maryam wrote in a post on X.
Maryam said that people's problems will be solved only if her father becomes prime minister again. "Except Nawaz, all others (premiers of the country) failed to control inflation and handle economic crises. Only my father can unite the nation and deliver," she claimed and urged the people to support Sharif for political stability as it is essential for economic stability.
Maryam Nawaz is one of the four children of Nawaz Sharif. She entered politics in 2012. in 2013, she was put in charge of her father's political campaign as he contested in the general elections. She was then appointed Chairperson of the Prime Minister's Youth Programme. However, she resigned in 2014 after her appointment was criticised by Imran Khan, who said the appointment was made on the basis of nepotism.
In 2017, Maryam was the subject of ridicule over the Fontgate scandal, a corruption case over her family's assets that were allegedly acquired illegally. Born in 1973, Maryam, after being turned down from being admitted into Kinnaird College for her FSc (faculty of science), attempted to become a doctor and enrolled in King Edward Medical College, however, after a controversy over illegal admission, she had to leave the college without completing her degree.
Maryam married Safdar Awan in 1992, who was serving as a captain in the Pakistani Army at the time. The couple have three children. She graduated with a degree in literature from the University of Punjab. In 2017, Maryam was selected as one of the BBC's 100 Women. In the same year, she was also featured on The New York Times list of 11 Powerful Women Around the World.
On August 8, 2019, Maryam was arrested in connection with the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case while she was visiting her jailed father at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore where her father had been serving a seven-year prison term since December 24, 2018. Nawaz Sharif was serving time after being convicted in one of the three corruption cases filed in the wake of the apex court's July 28, 2017 order in the Panama Papers case.
In November 2019, she was released on bail by the Lahore High Court over the Chaudhry Sugar Mills Corruption charges.
On 3 January 2023, Maryam Nawaz was appointed as Senior Vice President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N).
-- With PTI inputs
