ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif Monday berated PTI Chairman Imran Niazi for withdrawing his foreign conspiracy narrative in an interview with the Financial Times.
“Niazi's interview with FT in which he rebutted his foreign conspiracy theory is a reminder of the vicious role he played to harm Pakistan's external relations while pursuing his own petty politics,” he wrote on Twitter.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the former prime minister said that "he no longer blamed the US" and wants "dignified” ties with the country if he comes back to power.
Referring to the alleged conspiracy, Khan said that "it was over".
Criticising Khan for his change in stance, PM Shahbaz said: “Nation is shocked by his deceit [and] treachery inflicting irreparable damage on Pakistan.”
Earlier today, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also fired a broadside at Khan, saying that he had now given up the foreign conspiracy narrative after playing havoc with the national interests.
Aurangzeb said the former prime minister could not be pardoned after retracting from his narrative and that he will be held accountable.
The minister said that on the basis of this narrative, chaos and lies were spread throughout the country and now a simple withdrawal was not enough.
“After terming the parliament, the Pakistan Army, and the national institutions as traitors, he can’t be given a free ticket just by saying it’s behind me and it’s over," the PML-N leader added.
The PTI chief, a day earlier, signalled his desire to mend ties with the United States through cooperation with Washington in the future.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s over, it’s behind me. The Pakistan I want to lead must have good relationships with everyone, especially the United States," he said.
“Our relationship with the US has been as of a master-servant relationship, or a master-slave relationship, and we’ve been used like a hired gun. But for that I blame my own governments more than the US," the publication quoted the former premier as saying.