LAHORE (Dunya News) Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has said that the recent by-elections were not just elections but a referendum that the PML-N has clearly won, adding that “Prisoner No. 804 was defeated inside his own home.” She said that when the public stands with you, “you never boycott elections.”
Addressing a special meeting of provincial ministers and secretaries, she said she had never witnessed such hypocrisy: “When they lose, they call it a boycott. If there were rigging, the world would have seen it. Today, foreign publications are writing that Punjab used to run on ‘witchcraft’. Such tricks may bring temporary success only.” She added that the same hardships PML-N once faced—such as being denied jail visitation rights—are now being lamented by others.
Maryam Nawaz said she received only one 20-minute meeting per week with Nawaz Sharif while in jail, and even learned of her mother’s passing behind bars. “Still, we did not boycott elections. Nawaz Sharif never did either. PTI is now facing the consequences of its own actions,” she said.
She added that those who attack the state do not deserve garlands. “They formed alliances, toppled turbans, yet no one spoke. Their downfall began the day they attacked the state.” Criticizing governance in KP, she said corruption had piled up and mere rhetoric could not fill people’s stomachs. “KP has been dragged back to the Stone Age. We are opening our hearts and resources for the people of KP.”
Maryam Nawaz said the people of Haripur voted for Nawaz Sharif because a truly popular leader never boycotts elections. “A narrative is not crafted artificially—it forms on its own. PTI attacked the country when its government fell. Their politics is not politics.”
She said the best narrative is performance. During the PTI era, the entire state machinery was set against the PML-N. “PTI boycotted elections in Punjab but contested in KP—and still suffered a humiliating defeat.”
She said PTI campaigned under the name of “Prisoner No. 804” but still lost. “Their claims of popularity collapsed. I dedicate this by-election victory to Nawaz Sharif and to the people of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”