The federal government slammed the PTI for doubting the armed forces’ media wing statement on the apparent foreign conspiracy, adding that the DG ISPR’s viewpoint was a “stance”, not an opinion.

“You [PTI] tried to make a political statement on the letter, which contained between two diplomats,” Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

Earlier in the day, PTI leaders Asad Umar and Shireen Mazari addressed a press conference where they termed the DG ISPR comment on the NSC meeting and the apparent conspiracy a viewpoint.

Mazari also described the DG ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar’s statement in an interview as an “insult” and “unacceptable”. The former human rights minister defended her comments by saying that the Russian trip was taken after consensus.

“There was no conspiracy against the previous government,” DG ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar said in an interview on Dunya News programme On the Front with host Kamran Shahid on Tuesday.

The Foreign Office had also rejected the foreign conspiracy claims and described such assertions as “speculations”.

Marriyum, the government spokesperson, lambasted the PTI for apparently attacking institutions and influencing them over public matters. PTI chief Imran Khan has decided to again write a letter to the chief justice of Pakistan on the letter about “foreign conspiracy”.

“You should not have endorsed the NSC meeting points and formed a judicial commission when you had a piece of evidence on foreign conspiracy,” Marriyum said while hitting back at the PTI leaders, who called for conducting a judicial inquiry over the “letter”.

The information minister reiterated that the PTI’s statement was based on lies as the former premier Imran Khan had endorsed the NSC meeting. Marriyum warned the preceding ruling party against “attacking” institutions as destruction would be collected in such incidents.

“Every institution is working under its domain and they are neutral.”

In the presser, Marriyum apologised for using the term “treason” and chose to use “violation of Constitution” during the vote of no-confidence in parliament. “You were PM and you knew everything, you should have dissolved assembly,” she said.

Marriyum advised the PTI to stop the political discourse, which she described as a “drama” and predicted that the Imran-led party would again face defeat in October 2023 elections.

“There is not an opinion, it’s official stance so [I ask PTI to] avoid speaking against it and attacking it,” she reiterated while responding to a query on the DG ISPR statement.

To a query, she said the PTI was not getting strong as the party did not come up to its tall claims like providing 10 million jobs.

Punjab

“Right now, the people of Punjab are being deprived of their budget just because of personal interests,” Marriyum said on the prevailing political crisis in the country’s largest populated province, which is considered as lion’s share in the electoral process.

The political crisis further unfolded on Tuesday when the Punjab Assembly Parvez Elahi and Governor Balighur Rehman summoned separate sessions on the provincial budget.

“How can the people [PTI] who attacked the parliament defend the constitution,” she said, “Those who could not even clean the trash of Lahore are becoming its stakeholders.”