Pakistan Muslim League (N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan of using religion for personal political gain and "perverting religious beliefs and interpretations."
"I think religion is a personal matter … but it does not remain a personal matter when you say in rallies that 'voting for PML-N is a sin and voting for me (Imran Khan) is right and if my party members switch loyalties then it's shirk,'" Maryam, the daughter of former PM Nawaz Sharif, said on Thursday.
Maryam labeled the former prime minister as "mentally unsound" over his remarks against female Judge Zeba Chaudhry, who sent PTI politician Shehbaz Gill into police custody last month in a sedition case.
At a mass rally on August 20, Khan allegedly threatened the magistrate with severe consequences over her judgment. On Thursday, Gill secured bail from the Islamabad High Court in the sedition case filed against him by the police.
Maryam then claimed Khan was allegedly sent by hostile forces for the purpose of destruction.
"I think all institutions, whether the judiciary or army or politicians or government, should acknowledge he is a fitna (chaotic miscreant) who was launched for destruction and from whom no one is safe," she said.
The PML-N leader then urged the judiciary to reconsider the opportunity it is providing for the "chaotic miscreant" after Khan was granted bail until September 20 in a terror case, one of many charges brought by the police over his remarks at the August 20 rally.
Imran Khan was ousted from power through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April, which he insists was the result of a conspiracy hatched by Washington in collusion with local Pakistani parties.