Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz was getting away with using offensive language against the country’s military leadership because women are respected in Pakistan.

Addressing a public gathering after inaugurating the Sehat Sahulat Cards programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district, he once against vowed not to give any “NRO” (National Reconciliation Ordinance-like concession) to the opposition, saying its leaders had all joined hands to protect their “theft”.

He said Maryam, by “taking advantage” of the respect for women, was using inappropriate “language” against an army that was giving sacrifices for the nation on a daily basis and at a time when an “extremist Indian prime minister” who hated Muslims was oppressing Kashmiris, and his national security adviser was threatening Pakistan.

“I assure you, if it had been another country, she would have been thrown into jail. But because we respect women here, she is allowed to speak openly,” he added.

Referring to the opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliances, the premier said all of Pakistan’s “biggest thieves” had gathered on one platform because they thought they were above the law.

“One goes to London and acts like he is very ill and we all feel sorry for him,” he said, referring to PML-N supremo and Maryam’s father Nawaz Sharif. “Even the courts felt sorry for him and asked the government to allow him to go abroad. I asked the courts to at least take guarantee of Rs7 billion from him but eventually he went abroad.”

Imran said after going to London, Nawaz and his daughter were initially silent and tried “their best” to gain an “NRO” but when the PML-N leader realised the government would not give him any relief despite “blackmail”, he (Nawaz) started attacking the armed forces.

“The game he has started to attack the Pakistan Army and the Pakistani judiciary … he is asking the armed forces to replace their army and ISI chiefs, meaning he is asking the army to revolt against the army chief to protect his own money. Who could be a bigger enemy of the country,” the prime minister said, referring to Nawaz.

“Nawaz Sharif is speaking like jackals (geedar) while sitting abroad [and] his sons have also absconded abroad after stealing money,” he added.

Prime Minister Imran said this was a “decisive time” in the country when Nawaz and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, who used to “accuse each other of being corrupt for 30 years”, had now joined hands to ask for an NRO from the government.

“Do you think he (Nawaz) should be given an NRO?” he asked the crowd. The premier said the day he gives an NRO to “these thieves” to protect his position would be the day when he commits “the biggest treason against my country”.

Imran said the country would only progress if it had rule of the law. He said the government was making efforts to turn Pakistan into a welfare state based on the model of the ‘state of Madina’.

He appreciated KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan for providing health cards to the people, noting that it was the first province to offer health coverage to its entire population.

He said the government would enable the poor to own their own homes through the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme at affordable rates. He said the government was also working on introducing a uniform curriculum throughout the country for English and Urdu mediums and madressah students which would give a chance to children of the poor to progress.