Maryam Nawaz Sharif, 2nd left is seen with Okaz/Saudi Gazette reporter Faheem Al-Hamid, right at the first press conference addressed by Nawaz Sharif following his sweeping victory in the May 11 election. On right frame, Maryam making a point during the interview. Faheem Al Hamid Okaz/Saudi Gazette RAIWIND — She worked 18 hours a day during the recent election campaign — moving from one constituency to another in Pakistan — and spearheaded her father's campaign for the May 11 election successfully as Nawaz Sharif's PML-N emerged as a single largest party in Pakistan. Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the mastermind of the election campaign of PML-N, did not contest the election because she feels that she doesn't want to be confined to a post. “I am not hungry for a post. I will be working for the party everywhere, my soul is very contented, there is no greed for power, no hunger,” she told Saudi Gazette in her first exclusive interview with the English daily here. She added that getting a post of MNA or MPA would limit her horizon, while asserting confidently that, for her, the sky is the limit. Maryam, born on Oct. 28, 1973, is the wife of Army Capt. (R) Muhammad Safdar and the oldest daughter of Nawaz Sharif, who is the Prime Minister-elect of Pakistan after his party PML-N swept the May 11 election. She also refuted emphatically the theory that she was brought to campaign in the elections to counter Imran Khan. The excerpts: Q. What will be your role in the aftermath of the May 11 election, which gave PML-N a clean sweep in the Parliament? A: Let me tell you first that I did not contest the election because I thought it is my time for learning. I have been in politics directly and indirectly for the last 15 years after the military coup against PML-N government. I have struggled on the streets with my mother. I have been with my father throughout his exile. Even when he came back to Pakistan I was with him through his struggle for the restoration of democracy, and after that for the elections. We designed the election campaign, and when we came to the stage to take decisions for election candidates, I said I should not contest the election. Q. Why? A: Firstly, as I told you this is a learning phase for me. Secondly, I wanted to campaign for the party. If I had taken a constituency it would have taken a lot of my time. I would have been engaged just there and I also understood that my father would be extremely busy with the national campaign and as you know he contested from Lahore, and I thought I should look after his constituency, which is in the heart of Lahore and historically been a PML-N stronghold. Even If I didn't go there it would have been an easy win for the leader of the party. I thought it's my moral obligations and duty to be there as he was busy with his national campaign, with the campaign across the Pakistan and I owed it to the people of that constituency, as they wanted to see Sharif even when they knew when he was busy. So I went there, I reached out there, and the response, the love, the affection and the admiration that I got from the people of Lahore was tremendous and marvelous and I can't forget that and, when I finished with his constituency I worked like 18 hours a day to campaign from morning to the middle of the night — say 8:00 a.m. morning to 1:00 a.m. midnight — and when I toured his constituency, then I also went to the other constituencies Raiwind to Pindi. I went to other cities as well but mainly my focus was Lahore because Lahore was the main battle so I reached out the voters. I galvanized the youth, which was a big factor in this election. It was like 40 million new voters being added to the electoral list and these 40 million voters were mostly from the young generations. They wanted to do something for the party so, I was, for the last eight, nine months organizing them and also looked after the women side of the party. I was generally surprised when I came to campaign for the response I got from the youth of Pakistan, the women of Pakistan and from the men in general was very good. It may be the reason that made me realize that it's my time to learn and I didn't want to be parachuted into the political arena. I wanted to earn my place, you know with my work, and I didn't want people to say because she someone's daughter she's been parachuted like other political leaders, I don't want to name anyone but I did not want people to point fingers at my father and say he is parachuting his daughter, I wanted to make my own mark I wanted to carve out my own niche, I wanted to play my role, I wanted to serve the party, for the party (PML-N) is my passion, actually it's in my blood and I wanted to work for the party, I wanted to work for my leader and I wanted to work for Pakistan from the platform offered by PML-N. So I thought maybe this is a learning phase and all I should do is to campaign for the party. Q. I am asking you again where Maryam Nawaz Sharif stands in the post-election scenario. Are going back home? A. I believe that you can't just switch politics on and off nor can you be out of it, because politics requires a great deal of passion, commitment, time. So this is now where the work starts, this is not the end its just the beginning, and you know that my leader needs me, the party needs me because I am doing it without expecting the reward. This is where everyone needs to put in their share because the problems and the issues in Pakistan are gigantic and are out of control. This is not one man's job and we all have to help the leader of the party. Q. So did the leader of the party decide what would be your position? A. It is not decided yet. I have been assisting him throughout and I will keep on doing the same. There is a lot to do with him. I share his burdens, I see to his media relations and many other things, like I will help him in his interaction with people for when he is too busy you know I play my role. Q. It is said in some circle that you were brought in to lead the election campaign of PML-N to counter Imran Khan what is your comment? A. No I don't agree with that. Q. Because he was addressing the youth and you too could address youth? A. But youth is not anybody's wealth or property. Yes, they are the future of Pakistan and every political party has to look after you know Pakistan's future, everybody has to work together to give the next generation a better Pakistan. I don't agree with you that I was launched against him. If I have been launched against him, I would have been contesting the election. I did everything on voluntary basis. I was looking after the women's wing without any post without any office, you know I don't have a designation. That's why I was given this job because they were responding to me they saw me as a person who they could reach out and relate to. Q. So what's your vision now? A. I just told you the problems and the issues are serious and huge and I wanted to be with my leader and help him in whichever way I can. Without taking a position. Without being in office. God has blessed us with victory and we are now in power. My soul is very contented, Alhamdulillah. Allah has been very kind to me. So there is no greed for power, no hunger for position and I also believe that if a person has one office, one designation then it can confine you. I do not want to be confined by being a MPA or senator. This will limit my horizon and the sky is my limit. Q. What is the real challenge facing PML-N? A. The most important and the No. 1 issue is energy problem, which has crippled Pakistan. When I was campaigning around Lahore and Punjab I saw dark homes. I saw darkness everywhere, darkness symbolically highlighted that business too was finished. I saw the shopkeepers sitting near their shops doing nothing. There is no electricity, there is no gas, power shortages etc. and industries were closing, and lots of people have lost their jobs. Q. Do you think that 5 years are enough to solve such a big crisis? A. I think if you have the political will, the intention to deliver, if your intentions are not to fill your own pockets, if you have the right people and the right team, if you have the interest, and if you are willing to serve the people 24/7 we can solve it. But, yes, this is a tough job. This is our vision. Especially the government is going to address the energy crisis for the next 5 years and will be working 24/7. Q. What are other major issues other than the energy crisis? A. There is economic crisis, which is also related to the energy crisis. I believe that a weak economy is a breeding ground where all ills breed — joblessness, inflation and the frustration that leads to extremism. The frustration the economic and the financial status of the people that is leading to “mehromia.” These are the issues, which are aggravating the problems. If you want to address the problem of extremism and radicalization, I think we have to address the financial and economic issues first. What is causing that? Inflation, joblessness and also a weak economy. If people get good education and the country's economy is good and they are financially empowered then people will not go to extremism. Someone asked my party leader what will be your first priority. He said economy, economy, and economy. Q. When did you feel that you (the party) are going to win? A. As Muslims, we believe that we should try our best. We all worked day and night and toiled with our sweat and blood and then we left things into the hands of the Almighty with the knowledge ‘what he will do will be good for us.' The response on the ground was different to that of the media. What I saw on the media was portraying a hung Parliament. When I started the election campaign the response that I saw on ground was just the opposite. I was confused as the Election Day approached. On Election Day. I went to my leader's constituency. I visited every polling station because I was telling my people that I am here for you. Politics is not an easy job and you can't choose when you should stay back, when it's dangerous, and when it's risky. The first few results of the night started coming in around 07:30 p.m. and they were very encouraging and that time I knew we were going to win. Q. What is your message to Imran Khan after his defeat? A. I want to tell him that politics of abusing politicians, politics of allegations, and politics of mudslinging did not work this time. Q. How will you respond to his allegation that election has been rigged? A. The whole world and the international media were here. The whole world watched the elections everybody said that it was free and fair so everybody who lost must have lost free and fair. It's very hard to face defeat when you have shown the people that you will win and have been telling them lies though everything you have been blowing things out of proportion. I think he needs good advisers. He is not a political person himself, he has been a star cricketer all his life. I mean he is not a good politician. Q. You think he can do better in the next term? A. If he wants to be seen as a politician at some point of time, and if he wants to register his party as a political force he should learn from his mistake. Q. Do you think that his people betrayed him? A. No I think he betrayed his people. The leader has to build the nation. He has to lead by example, he has to show tolerance and be above petty issues. He has to be a leader. He is not addressing a particular group at his party. He has to be a Pakistani, he has to lead the Pakistani nation, so I think people of Pakistan are very clever they went to his jalsas and they left him at the ballot. When it comes to politics, voting is the real work. Q. What about the People's Party? A. It is wiped out. It is very sad. Because we are very strong opponents and we believe in democracy we believe in a good working relationship with all. We believe in tolerance. We believe in giving space to others. They did not deliver, they disappointed people and they not only disappointed the people but they also disappointed in maintaining democratic values. The corruptions, the mega scandals, the inefficiency, It's not the corruption alone, they were not interested in serving the country. It's sad because political parties come into being after decades of hard work to build it takes these for the political party to finish and it is sad that the political force, who struggled behind it, you know was none other than Benazir Bhutto. Her father was hanged. A huge amount of sacrifices were made by the family, but ultimately what happened, Zardari lost it just because he could not deliver to the people of Pakistan and when I say it's a loss because I say, in a political party, it is a huge investment in people and you know nations invest in people who offer the political party their love, their affection, their expectations. Then you disappoint them and now they are nowhere in Punjab, nowhere in Lahore. The PML-N gets something like close to 100,000 votes from one constituency, PTI is a distant No. 2 like 30,000 - 35,000, the People's Party like 5,000 - 7,000, In the whole of this area people did not know who was the candidate from PPP. People didn't know the names. I did not, though I made every effort to find out who was running against my father. Q. How do you see the future relation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia where you lived several years? A. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been good friends. Also Saudi Arabia has been with Pakistan through thick and thin all along they and our party leader's history of ideal relation with Saudi Arabia is evident. Insha'Allah we are going to pick up the alliance and always want great relationship with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is like you know a country to whom we all look up to. Q. How do you see the policies of the King Abdullah to maintain peace and stability in the region? A. Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, God give him long life, is a visionary leader of the Muslim world and all Muslims look up to him with respect and appreciation. We hope that our relation with Saudi Arabia would be same as it was in the past. Saudi Arabia has always been a great friend of Pakistan and we want to take this relation forward, we want to strengthen the ties with Saudi Arabia.
