Will be 'ruthless' if political opponents resort to violent protest: Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz warns

Maryam Nawaz, the newly elected Chief Minister of Pakistans Punjab province, has warned her political opponents against resorting to any violent protest, saying she would be ruthless if they created a law and order situation on the pretext of doing politics.Maryam, the 50-year-old daughter of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, took oath as the first-ever woman chief minister of Pakistans most populous and politically crucial Punjab province last week.Protests against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz PML-N and its allies continue across the country as the agitators allege that the February 8 poll results were rigged.

Maryam Nawaz, the newly elected Chief Minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, has warned her political opponents against resorting to any violent protest, saying she would be ''ruthless'' if they created a law and order situation on the pretext of doing politics.

Maryam, the 50-year-old daughter of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, took oath as the first-ever woman chief minister of Pakistan's most populous and politically crucial Punjab province last week.

Protests against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allies continue across the country as the agitators allege that the February 8 poll results were rigged. Though jailed former prime minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed independents won the maximum number of seats in Parliament, the party could not form a government. The PML-N has forged a post-poll power-sharing deal with the Pakistan Peoples Party and their consensus prime ministerial candidate, Shehbaz Sherif was sworn in on Monday.

''The opposition is in a state of mourning and they are not in their right frame of mind at the moment. They have a defeated mindset. They want to create anarchy, polarisation and instability. But let me tell them that if they try to create a law and order situation on the pretext of doing politics, I will be ruthless. I have zero tolerance for them to create problems for the public," Maryam said during a press conference on Wednesday.

The new Punjab chief minister faced strong criticism from PTI for allegedly torturing its workers during what it called a peaceful protest in Lahore.

One of the protesters is said to have been admitted to ICU because of alleged police torture.

"The defeated mind wants to fight. They are going to criticise us on everything we do but I don't care about criticism…I will do my job," she was quoted as saying in the report.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)