Pakistan former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said the Pakist establishment has threatened his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who is at the forefront of protests against Prime Minister Imran Khan, that she would be "smashed if she does not fall into line".
In a video message that he posted on Twitter, Sharif accused the Army and the Pakistan spy agency ISI of meddling in politics.
He alleged that the recently held trust vote was rigged.
Sharif said that Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Imran Khan, Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence Faiz Hamid, General Officer Commanding Major General Irfan Ahmad Malik should be held accountable if something bad happens to Maryam.
"In 2018, breaking public rule in Pakistan, appointing an incapable person as leader of the country, who is responsible for the deteriorating economic condition of the country... If that was not enough, after suffering the defeat of the ruling candidate in Senate elections, the way you have won the no-confidence motion is not a secret from anyone," he said.
"After the loss in the Senate elections, the way you helped the selected (Imran Khan) for his trust vote, is that hidden to anyone? The trust vote was a repeat of the 2018 elections, in which the record for rigging was broken," he added
Sharif's video message comes days after Pakistan Prime Minister won the vote of confidence in the National Assembly, which he was forced to take after an embarrassing defeat in the Senate election.
A day after the senate debacle, Imran Khan met Army chief Bajwa and ISI director general Lt Gen Faiz Hameed.
Maryam Nawaz had questioned the meeting saying the country's military leadership "should not have been seen" with Imran Khan, a day after he suffered an embarrassing upset in the Senate election.
Speaking to reporters in Islamabad last week, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president accused Imran Khan of dragging the institutions into politics after he met with Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, Dawn reported.
The Army has long been blamed for controlling the government in Pakistan.
In the video, Nawaz, who has been living in London since November 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him permission to go abroad for four weeks for treatment, said: "You have fallen to such new lows that first you broke into Maryam Nawaz's hotel door in Karachi and now you are threatening her? You have told her that if she does not fall in line, you will smash her."
"God will protect her in her battle for democracy. I want to warn those threatening her that if someone does something fishy to her, then Imran Khan, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Gen. Faiz Hamid and Gen. Irfan Malik are responsible," said Sharif.
Nawaz was referring to an incident of October last year when Punjab police forcibly entered the hotel room of Maryam Nawaz in Karachi after a massive rally a day earlier in the port city.
The orgsers of the rally, the joint opposition front Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), had alleged that the arrest came after the Pakistan paramilitary abducted Punjab local police chief and made him register cases against Awan and 200 others including Maryam Nawaz for sloganeering at the mausoleum of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
"Police broke my room door at the hotel I was staying at in Karachi and arrested Capt. Safdar," Maryam had tweeted.
( With inputs from ANI )
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