Pouncing on former first lady Bushra Bibi’s statement, the federal government vowed on Friday that strict action would be taken on any negative remarks against Saudi Arabia even as the PTI denied her comments’ negative characterisation.

In a video message on Thursday, the PTI founder’s spouse had claimed that some foreign powers were unhappy over his religious posture of walking barefoot in Madina. She said after the ex-PM returned from the holy city, then-army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa had begun receiving calls of disapproval. She didn’t specify who made the calls.

The statement seemingly baffled PTI leaders and workers who were expecting a favourable outcome from back-channel diplomacy in the lead-up to the party’s protest. Several media reports on Thursday night claimed the former general denied the allegations, while her claims also prompted widespread concern within party circles, with many saying her remarks could hurt ongoing backchannel efforts.

Addressing an inauguration ceremony in Taunsa for a flood restoration programme, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recounted the history of Saudi Arabia unconditionally and fully helping out Pakistan through various points in history — no matter the government in power — in many ways and fronts without asking anything in return, including recent negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

“I will, unfortunately, have to mention some events here because … a statement has come out yesterday, which I think there can be no greater enmity against Pakistan than this that you spew venom against the country that has never demanded anything in return and always opened its doors for Pakistan,” he said in an apparent reference to Bushra’s remarks.

The prime minister warned: “It is an unforgivable crime that you spew venom [against Saudi Arabia] after that. I want to announce as the prime minister that any hand that becomes an obstacle in the friendship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the nation will break those hands.

“This is not a joke. What will they think? Such an allegation has been made that no one could even imagine. Seeds of hate are being sown for short-term political interest. What political interest is this that is sacrificing Pakistan’s highest interest?”

The premier said no one would be allowed to play with the country’s interests when it came to brotherly allies such as Saudi Arabia.

He said those “spreading such poison in society” had no idea of its consequences and negative effects.

Ministers pounce on Bushra’s remarks

Lashing out at Bushra’s remarks in a press conference earlier today, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif termed them as a “vile and disgusting” attempt made “to salvage your politics and save a sinking ship like this.”

He said that the accusations were serious enough for the former army chief to address them himself. “[PTI’s] politics are sinking, and they want to save it.”

The defence minister alleged that the entire situation was actually about a fight for control of the party between Bushra Bibi and Imran’s three sisters.

Asif said that of the “lowness” seen in 76 years of politics in Pakistan, he had never seen “the kind of lowness displayed by PTI, its leadership and Bushra especially”.

The defence minister said that Pakistan had historical, religious and economic relations with Saudi Arabia, adding that the kingdom had always helped Pakistan in difficult times.

“Over 2.8 million Pakistanis are working in Saudi Arabia who send billions of dollars in remittances to Pakistan every year,” he added.

The minister said, “Our cordial and friendly relationship with Saudi Arabia should not be affected due to someone’s personal political gains. Such a controversial statement is an effort to save PTI’s sinking ship,” he added.

PTI hit back at the minister’s press conference in a post on X.

“The country is in the grip of the worst terrorism, hundreds of innocent citizens have been mercilessly killed in two days, but the minister of defence of Form 47, instead of admitting his shortcomings and mistakes, has crossed all limits of shamelessness and insensitivity and is still busy raving against the PTI as usual,” it said.

“From the regime change to today, the level of disregard for humanity and human life that this fascist regime has shown is unparalleled,” the post said.

“The way security forces and the current regime are busy in operations against PTI, if you give just one per cent of attention to security, perhaps these incidents might stop.”

In an earlier statement posted on his X account, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar criticised the former first lady for “implicating Saudi Arabia for petty political point scoring “.

He said the government was proud of the “close relationship” Pakistan had with the friendly country which “always stood” by “through thick and thin”.

“This relationship is based on mutual respect,” the foreign minister said.

“Implicating Saudi Arabia for petty political point scoring is regrettable and indicative of a desperate mindset,” Dar said, urging “all political forces to desist from compromising Pakistan’s foreign policy in pursuance of their political objectives”.

PTI denies negative characterisation of Bushra’s remarks

Meanwhile, the PTI denied the negative characterisation of Bushra Bibi’s remarks by the government. In a post on X, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said that the PTI viewed the relationship with Saudi Arabia with great respect and dignity and wanted to further expand on the “brotherly and friendly” relation.

“Bushra Bibi did not directly or indirectly name the leadership or government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in her message, nor is there any possibility of doing so.

“Rather, she pointed to the characters whose chief was General Qamar Javed Bajwa who were active against an elected democratic government internally and externally and who created an environment at the expense of state resources at the local and international levels to pave the way for the regime change project,” Akram said.

The PTI spokesperson said that the party strongly condemned the attempt by the “mandate-thief government, which is afraid of nationwide protests, to use the brotherly Islamic country as a source of baseless rumours in view of nefarious political goals.

“The only aim of the efforts to distort a specific part of the video message of Imran’s wife and to create a narrative on the media and social media based on it at the expense of state resources is to support their declining reputation and government by putting Pakistan’s diplomatic interests at stake.”

Akram alleged that harming national interests for personal interests was “not a big deal” for the “puppet government, deprived of a public mandate, … because their existence is built on the rags of the Constitution, law, national interest and democracy”.

He said the campaign against Bushra was “nothing new”, alleging that not only had the government been previously making her a target of accusations but it had also “woven a web of false cases against her, out of which her innocence has been proven in court in all major cases”.

“The sole purpose of targeting Bushra Bibi is to subdue the founding chairman Imran Khan and prevent him from the rule of law, the release of innocent political prisoners, the return of the stolen mandate and the movement for true freedom. We firmly believe that like before, every one of their conspiracies will still fail and be futile, the nationwide protest of November 24 will also bear fruit and the nation will definitely attain true freedom under the leadership of Imran Khan.”

The PTI said the government should “refrain from the undesirable and condemnable act of targeting Pak-Saudi relations with its own agendas”.

Similarly, a statement posted on Imran’s X account said he had excellent relations with Saudi Arabia, adding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was one of the first to call him when the PTI founder was attacked in Wazirabad on Nov 3, 2022.

“Bushra Bibi’s statement was deliberately taken out of context to draw our brotherly country into a needless controversy. She didn’t mention Saudi Arabia at all.

“My government was toppled through conspiracies, all orchestrated by General Bajwa,” the statement said, repeating Imran’s previous allegations about the former army chief’s role in the PTI government’s ouster.

“Bushra Bibi has no connection with politics; she only conveyed my message to the nation, as my wife, regarding the November 24th protest,” the statement concluded.

Talking to the media outside Adiala Jail, PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry said Bushra’s remarks “did not at all mention Saudi Arabia, I negate this impression”.

Similarly, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Dr Barrister Saif also said that Bushra Bibi did not say that Gen Bajwa was called by the Saudi crown prince or government and did not make any accusations against the latter two.

“Mohammed bin Salman and Imran Khan have an ideal relationship which the fake government is trying to damage.

“In its malice towards Imran, the fake government does not even take into account the relations between the two countries.”

Saif alleged that the purpose of “exaggerating Bushra Bibi’s statement” was to divert attention from the protest, saying that “the fake government is ready to do anything to divert attention from the protest”.