She was addressing a public gathering in Quetta’s Ayub Stadium, one of numerous events and rallies held across the country by the opposition parties to mark the first anniversary of the 2018 general elections as ‘Youm-e-Siah’ — ‘black day’. The joint opposition are holding public meetings in all provincial capitals — Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta — while a demonstration was also held in Islamabad.
Addressing the “respected institutions” of the country, Maryam said that these institutions represented all the provinces of Pakistan, “but you are not the institutions of Imran Khan. You are not the representatives of the man who brought historical failure to Pakistan.” “Don’t pick a fight with the people for the incapable and failed Imran Khan,” she said while addressing the unnamed institutions. Claiming that the people of Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were upset with, but “want to respect”, the institutions, she urged these powers to “come forward and hug” the people of various provinces and solve their issues. She also asked them to “honour the vote” and let the people’s representatives be elected.