The ruling alliance was under no pressure, the government spokesperson said on Saturday as the United States and Canadian lawmakers express concerns over the situation in Pakistan.

“I want to explicitly as a government’s spokesperson tell you that we are under no pressure,” Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said at a press conference in Islamabad which was centered on May 9 riots and PTI’s social media campaigns.

Her comments came after as many as 66 US lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging him to push for democracy and human rights in Pakistan.

On Friday, around 16 Canadian MPs wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and expressed their “grave concern over the situation unfolding in Pakistan”. They added that people’s “right of peaceful protest to be respected”.

Moreover, human rights organisations have also expressed their concerns over arrests of political opposition and the government’s decision to try civilians in the military courts.

Marriyum was whether the government was under pressure amid such letters and what countermeasures were being taken.

“We have the pressure of those whose schools and hospitals have been burned, we are under pressure of those whose martyrs’ statues were desecrated,” she said, adding that the government same kind of “pressure” when the incumbent government was termed “imported”.

“Even then letters were written even then there was pressure. Even then letters were written as even then lobbyists were hired and today also they are hired. We have a duty to safeguard people and not violate the rights and protection of citizens is our responsibility.”

The information minister advised those who were writing letters on Pakistan’s situation to do some soul-searching.

Marriyum gave the example of January 6, the Capital Hill attack, saying that people involved in the violence were “still in jail”. To some extent, she was referring to the government’s measures to arrest the May 9 rioters.

When asked about rumours of an extension in the government’s tenure for a year, she negated such claims.

“Neither have I heard this. This rumours are by those who are ‘political martyrs’, those whose politics is based on rumours. Hopefully, the constitutional tenure will be completed and elections will be held on time,” she said.

Marriyum further accused the PTI of circulating “AI generated” images on social media to allegedly defame law enforcement agencies and incite hatred against them among the public.

She blamed Imran Khan for instigating his supporters to attack the police and utilising fabricated images to fuel animosity towards law enforcement officials in the country.

She claimed that Khan deleted the AI generated after it was reported by France 24 that the images used were not true.

Like some government leaders, Marriyum expressed her regret over the “lack of condemnation” from Khan over attacks on monuments of martyrs and sensitive installations on May 9.