After slamming Imran Khan for 'not getting respect' from PM Modi, Maryam Nawaz again targets Pak PM

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz Wednesday took a jibe at Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying the "man who paralysed" Islamabad for four months "cannot tolerate a small protest".

Her comments came as hundreds of Pakistan People Party (PPP) workers and police clashed in Islamabad as party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in relation to a fake accounts case.

Police used water cannons to disperse the PPP workers and stop them from moving towards the NAB headquarters. There was a scuffle between PPP workers at police at Islamabad's D-Chowk. Police baton-charged workers at several places and made some arrests, media reports said. 

Responding to the incident, Maryam, now a Vice President of the PML-N, condemned the attack on the PPP workers.

READ| Pakistan's Nukes Make Its Defence 'invincible', Says Nawaz Sharif From Jail

"The person who attacked Parliament, PM House, PTV and paralysed Islamabad for four months could not tolerate a small protest because he is scared," Maryam tweeted in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Khan.

In 2016, Khan, the Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf held anti-government demonstrations daily in Islamabad, demanding the resignation of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif of PML-N over corruption charges.

Maryam, the daughter of Sharif, also claimed Khan was "afraid" of protests and termed the treatment of the PPP workers as "torture".

On Tuesday, Maryam criticised Khan, saying that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not give respect to his Pakistani counterpart and did not take his call in February when tensions between the two nations escalated after their air forces were engaged in aerial combat.

READ| Pakistan Anchor Misinterprets 'Abhinandan' In PM Modi's Speech, Gets Trolled For Thinking It Referred To India's IAF Hero

Speaking at an event held in connection with Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests here in Model Town, Maryam said Khan complained that Indian PM Modi did not attend his telephone call amid heightened Indo-Pak tensions.

Maryam said Khan used to call Sharif 'a friend of Modi'. 

"It was Mr Modi who came to Pakistan to meet Nawaz Sharif. It was Mr Vajpayee who came to Pakistan to meet Nawaz Sharif as he was an elected prime minister and the world give him respect. But in your (Khan) case, Modi is not ready to take your telephone call because he knows that you are a fake premier," she said.

"Let me make it clear I will not call you the friend of Modi. We want peace with India. War is no solution to problems the two countries are facing," she added.