Maryam Nawaz admits leaked audio on controlling TV channels’ ads
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz has admitted that the leaked audio of her instructing the media team not to give advertisement to certain TV channels is real.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Maryam Nawaz said: “I was my voice. The audio attributed to me is real and It will not say that it is doctored.”
She said that she was in charge of the media cell during PML-N government tenure. She directed not to allot advertisements to some private news channels, which raised eyebrows as she was not in any government post during the PML-N government’s tenure.
Referring to the alleged leaked audio of former CJP Justice retired Saqib Nisar, Maryam said that as soon as the audio came out, propaganda regarding the clip started to prove that the clip was doctored despite the fact that a renowned American forensic company said the clip was not edited.
He demanded from former CJP to come forward and tell the nation who pressurized him to give a verdict about the case of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Earlier this week, a viral audio attributed to Maryam Nawaz came to light in which she was heard giving instructions to the media team to stop advertisements of several TV channels during the PML-N tenure.
In the leaked audio, Maryam Nawaz directed to stop advertisements of several channels including ARY. The daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had said that no advertisement will be given to 24News, 92News, SAMAA and ARY.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that Maryam Nawaz has admitted to controlling the advertisements of leading television channels.
In a tweet, he said that this was another confession of serious financial irregularities. The minister said Maryam Nawaz claimed that she was running the party’s media cell. Fawad said that after this confessional statement it could be hoped that she would also acknowledge her own and her family’s properties abroad.
PML-N has a history of influencing judiciary
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib took the PML-N to tasks for corrupting the system in past to cover up their corrupt practices. “PML-N cannot afford independent judiciary, nor tolerate independent working of institutions as they are the people who had corrupted the whole system,” he said while talking to media.
Flanked by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill and Parliamentary Secretary Planning Development and Special Initiatives Kanwal Shauzab, the state minister said PML-N had a history of influencing and intimidating the institutions including judiciary for achieving their ulterior motives.
He said the PML-N had a history of attacking the court, getting decision in their favour, doing politics of ‘briefcases’ and appointing people of their own choice on important official positions.
The state minister said it was not the first time that the PML-N was attacking the judiciary. “This was the continuity of their verbal onslaught on the judiciary after the court disqualified Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz on their corruption in Panama leaks.”
Referring to the news conference of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz against the state institutions, he said she should tell the nation about the delaying tactics being used by her to hamper the ongoing accountability process.
Maryam after her conviction from the accountability court on corruption charges filed an appeal against the decision and now hampered the proceedings by seeking adjournments over a dozen times under the pretext of different excuses like illness of lawyer and subsequent change in her legal counsel.
Referring to the video leaks of PML-N against judiciary, the minister dared Maryam to submit them in court as evidence in her case. She would not do so as her family did not have any receipt of the flats bought in London, he added.
