PM Imran Khan setting fire to Foreign Office: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Friday that Prime Minister Imran Khan was "setting the Foreign Office on fire" by revealing the "threat memo" in public.

During his press conference in the federal capital, Bilawal said the prime minister tried to make the NSC "controversial" by calling the meeting of the committee ahead of the no-confidence in a bid to save his "seat".

The PPP chairman said that as the voting on the no-confidence motion has not taken place, it was "inappropriate" of the prime minister to call meetings of national security forums.

"The national security forums are being used as political tools to try and undermine the democratic no-confidence motion and create the red herring propaganda message for the public," Bilawal said.

He said that had the prime minister known how to handle such situations while in office, he would have "never" called the meetings of such high-level forums and use them for his political ends.

"If there is an actual threat to the country's national security, then the meetings of such forums should take place. They should not be made controversial as it should be written in history that these are not controversial."

"...these should be kept far away from political matters. But unfortunately, this person — Imran Khan — tried to make the forum controversial," the PPP chairman said, vowing that despite the premier's attempts, the Opposition would not allow him to become a "political martyr".

Bilawal said the letter was not a threat as it was part of a diplomatic process, but he questioned if it was really a threat, then why did the prime minister not raise it with relevant authorities. "Why did he wait till now?"

“Imran Khan has been defeated and he is acting like a batsman who has been clean bowled, but is crying and does not want to leave the pitch. Running the country is not a game of cricket,” he said.