'Game is over' for cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan: Maryam Nawaz
Islamabad (PTI): Maryam Nawaz, Senior Vice President of PML-N party, has told Imran Khan that the "game is over" for the cricketer-turned-politician following an exodus of his party's senior members.
Maryam made these remarks on Friday while addressing a convention in Pakistan's Punjab province. During her address, she also talked about the incidents on May 9 the day on which the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief Khan was arrested, triggering violent protests countrywide.
Maryam, the 49-year-old daughter of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, told PTI Chairman Khan that the "game is over" following an exodus of his party's senior members.
Over 70 lawyers and leaders from the party have parted ways with the PTI so for following the May 9 mayhem. Top PTI leaders - including the party's Secretary General Asad Umar, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry and former minister for human rights Shireen Mazari - have resigned.
Taking a jibe at the PTI over leaders' mass departure, Maryam said that there were ques of those quitting the party.
The PTI leaders' exodus started when the security forces launched a crackdown against the party following the attacks on the civil and military institutions.
"How will the people stand when the leader himself is a jackal?" she criticised the former prime minister, who was removed from office via a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly in April last year.
"Your people are revealing that Imran Khan, 70, is the mastermind of May 9 (incidents)" she added.
The PML-N senior vice president said that Khan was the mastermind of the May 9 "terrorism" but his workers are facing anti-terrorism court.
She said that Khan took his wife, Bushra Bibi, to court covered with sheets but he used other women as vanguards. Khan and his wife were covered with white sheets as they arrived at the Lahore High Court on May 15 in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Maryam said that the May 9 incident was an "attack on Pakistan Army", adding that the former premier was being assisted by his "facilitators".
On May 9, violent protests erupted after paramilitary Rangers arrested Khan from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises.
His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Lahore Corps Commander's House, the Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad in response to Khan's arrest.
The mob also stormed the Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi for the first time.
Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan's party claims 40 of its workers lost their lives in the firing by security personnel.
Thousands of Khan's supporters were arrested following the violence that the powerful Army described as a "dark day" in the history of the country.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Suvendu Adhikari says Bangladesh should be taught a “lesson like Israel taught Gaza”
Kolkata: Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Suvendu Adhikari has sparked controversy after stating that Bangladesh should be taught a “lesson like Israel has taught Gaza.”
Adhikari made the remark while speaking to reporters outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata on Friday, December 26. “These people must be taught a lesson, just like Israel taught Gaza. Our 100 crore Hindus and the government working in the interest of Hindus must teach them a lesson just as we taught Pakistan a lesson in Operation Sindoor,” he said.
The statement came amid protests being held outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission since December 22, following the lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, a 27-year-old garment factory worker in Bangladesh. Das was killed on December 18 in the Mymensingh district, where his body was allegedly hung from a tree and set on fire in public view.
Adhikari was part of a five-member delegation that met senior officials of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission on Friday. Speaking after the meeting, he claimed that the diplomats had “no answer to most of his questions” related to the killing and the situation of minorities in Bangladesh.
Reacting to his comments, the All India Trinamool Congress accused the BJP of promoting hate and intolerance. In a post on X, the party described Adhikari’s remarks as hate speech and alleged that they amounted to a call for violence, while also questioning the absence of legal action against him.
Adhikari’s statement has added to political tensions in West Bengal and raised concerns over inflammatory rhetoric linked to sensitive international and communal issues.
The @BJP4India’s Bengal ‘face’ wants a Gaza like operation against Bangladesh. Dog whistles that the @narendramodi government is for ‘Hindus’ only. Do you concur with this @narendramodi @DrSJaishankar ? Dirty politics of Divide and Rule won’t work in Bengal, @SuvenduWB pic.twitter.com/vLWm9b3AXb
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) December 27, 2025
