Maryam to Send Defamation Notice to Salik Over Punjab Corruption Claims

Photo: APP / Ministry for Overseas Pakistanis via Dawn (combination photo of Maryam Nawaz and Chaudhry Salik Hussain)

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has hit back hard at a federal minister from her own allied party, saying she is sending him a defamation notice over his claim that corruption is rife in Punjab. Chaudhry Salik Hussain is standing by his words, and the row inside the ruling alliance is now out in the open.

The clash played out on Tuesday in Attock, where Maryam was speaking at a ceremony at COMSATS University. She had just opened 127 development projects worth Rs23 billion in the district, including 59 road schemes, when she turned to the remarks that had annoyed her.

Salik, the federal minister for overseas Pakistanis, had spoken on a private television talk show on Monday. Dawn reported that he praised former chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and said he regularly heard complaints of corruption in Punjab, with too much of the development budget going to Lahore.

Maryam did not hold back. "There is a federal minister, somebody sent me his statement about corruption in Punjab. Today, I am sending him a defamation notice," she said. "If you have evidence, bring it forth, otherwise I will drag you to court."

She had a sharp question for him too. If the Punjab government was as corrupt as he claimed, she asked, why was he still sitting as a minister in the same government?

Then she gave her own reading of why he was angry. She said the real issue was not corruption or development at all. She had changed the deputy commissioner of Gujrat a few days ago, she said, and Salik had wanted an officer of his choice in the post.

"I will not allow anyone to interfere in the will of the people," she said. Officers in Punjab, she added, are posted on merit, and taking recommendations for postings harms the country and its people.

She also answered his praise for Elahi's time in charge. She said she had visited Gujrat about two years ago in the rain and the water came up to her neck. Her Land Cruiser, she said, was completely under water. Go and look at Gujrat now, she said, when it rains the water does not pile up in the same way.

Salik has not backed down. Geo News reported that he told reporters he stood by his statement and denied seeking any favour over the Gujrat posting, saying an officer was already serving there. Asked about evidence, he said people should listen to the interview again. Asked straight if there was corruption, he said: "Yes, there definitely is."

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari also weighed in, telling Salik not to "bite the hand that feeds him" and making the same point about the Gujrat posting being turned down.

The row cuts close to home for both sides. Salik is the younger son of PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and his elder brother Shafay Hussain sits in Maryam's own Punjab cabinet. The family split after Imran Khan's government fell in 2022, with Elahi and his son going with the PTI while the Shujaat side stayed with the Sharifs.

What this means is simple. A disagreement over development funds has turned into a legal threat between allies, and it will be hard to keep it private now. If a notice is served, Salik will have to either produce the evidence Maryam is demanding or face a court case from a chief minister in the same ruling setup.

It also lands at a time when household budgets are already under strain, from today's one day petrol price cut to the row over who carries the cost of fuel pricing and the LPG price jump hitting rickshaw drivers in Lahore. Voters hear a lot about corruption in the abstract. This time they will get to see whether anyone puts proof on the table.

Sources

Dawn: CM Maryam incensed at Chaudhry Salik's claims of corruption in Punjab

Geo News: CM Maryam threatens defamation case against ally Salik over Punjab corruption claims

BOL News: Maryam Nawaz unveils 127 Attock projects, challenges Chaudhry Salik over corruption claims

Watch for the defamation notice itself and Salik's formal reply, and for whether the row spills further into the coalition.

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