Maryam Nawaz, leader of thePakistan’s PML-N party and the daughter of the former prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif on Monday, became the first woman chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Maryam, 50, who is serving as the senior vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, secured victory in the chief ministerial elections.
In her maiden speech at the provincial legislature, Maryam thanked God, her father, Nawaz Sharif, uncle Shehbaz Sharif and the lawmakers who voted for her, The Telegraph reported.
Maryam said that she was happy to sit in the seat where her father used to sit. “My father trained me how to run the office,” Maryam, considered the political heir of Nawaz Sharif, said.
“Today, every woman of the province is proud to see a woman chief minister,” she said and hoped that the tradition of female leadership would continue in the future as well.
The PML-N leader said she had seen hard times like imprisonment but was thankful to her opponents for making her strong.
Maryam received 220 votes and won the chief ministerial elections for the politically crucial Punjab province, home to 120 million people. She defeated Rana Aftab of the PTI-backed SIC, who received no votes as his party boycotted the election.
Meanwhile, the PTI nominee for the chief ministerial post, Aftab, said, “It seems as if dictatorship persists even today,” according to the report.
Speaking to the media in Lahore as the Punjab Assembly voted for the new leader of the House, Aftba said, “I am a political worker […] the way I had to pass from there [the assembly], this is shameful for me, and it is also a moment of reflection for all politicians.” He added that the PTI wanted justice as per the law and Constitution to take “this manoeuvred democracy forward”.
