Maryam Nawaz, Newly Elected CM of Punjab Province, Warns Against Violent Protests

Lahore: Newly elected Chief Minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, Maryam Nawaz, during a press conference on Wednesday, promised to take ruthless action against any political opponents engaging in violent protests that endanger the law and order situation. Maryam, the daughter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, took oath as the first-ever woman chief minister of Pakistan's Punjab province last week.  

The PML-N has forged a post-poll power-sharing deal with the Pakistan Peoples Party and their consensus prime ministerial candidate, Shehbaz Sherif was sworn in on Monday.

Protests against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allies continue across the country as the agitators allege that the February 8 poll results were rigged.

Though jailed former prime minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed independents won the maximum number of seats in Parliament, the party could not form a government.

The new Punjab chief minister faced strong criticism from PTI for allegedly torturing its workers during what it called a peaceful protest in Lahore.

One of the protesters is said to have been admitted to ICU because of alleged police torture.

"The opposition is in a state of mourning and they are not in their right frame of mind at the moment. They have a defeated mindset. They want to create anarchy, polarisation and instability. But let me tell them that if they try to create a law and order situation on the pretext of doing politics, I will be ruthless. I have zero tolerance for them to create problems for the public,” Maryam said during a press conference on Wednesday.

“The defeated mind wants to fight. They are going to criticise us on everything we do but I don’t care about criticism…I will do my job,” she was quoted as saying in the report. 

With inputs from the Press Trust of India.