Maryam declares patronage over in Punjab, vows law will reach offenders

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the age of recommendation in the province was over, and that the law would reach any offender however powerful or wealthy he might be.

She was speaking at a ceremony at the University of Rasul in Mandi Bahauddin, where she distributed laptops and Honhar scholarship cheques among students of colleges and universities in the district, Express News reported. The outlet said crowds threw flowers at her vehicle as she arrived and residents danced as her motorcade passed.

According to Express News, the chief minister said that anyone who raised a hand against ordinary people, whether a rich man's son or a person with connections, would not be spared. Addressing those who harm women and children, she said they should quit the world of crime or stop complaining about her afterwards.

She turned to the courts, saying that accused persons obtain bail and walk free. She said she would meet the chief justice of the Lahore High Court and ask that at least a sentence be handed down heavy enough for an offender to feel shame on release. In the petrol pump assault case, she said, the accused was granted bail the following day.

On the distribution, she said no one could claim that anything had been given against merit. Every lock in Punjab, she said, opens with a single key, and that key is 100 percent merit. She added that she would not spare any offender even if he belonged to her own party, and that Punjab now stands with the oppressed, with the law and order situation giving courage to girls.

She said the Multan incident in which an orphan boy was crushed by a car does not leave her eyes. In the case of a woman on a motorcycle who was assaulted, she said she told the girl to slap her attacker as many times as she had been slapped, and that she had taken the same position in the petrol pump incident.

She said students would receive laptops, electric buses, Chromebooks and scholarships, and that she was not asking for the moon and stars in return: only that they remain loyal to Pakistan.

UrduPoint reported that she also remarked at the event that she had forgotten it was her own birthday, and thanked the audience for the affection with which they had marked it.