Overview
- Ministers including Khawaja Asif and Ahsan Iqbal backed the DG ISPR after he cast Imran Khan’s rhetoric as a national security threat, with some coalition figures describing the PTI founder as mentally unstable.
- PTI leaders rejected the characterization, said their immediate demand has narrowed to being allowed to meet Imran Khan, and staged a rally in Peshawar while warning against any move to impose governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
- Reports citing government sources said authorities have decided to place senior PTI figures, including Imran Khan, on the Exit Control List and impose travel bans on others.
- Parties across the spectrum, including PML-N, PPP figures and MQM-P, criticized PTI’s messaging as anti-state and urged unity behind the armed forces, with some leaders alleging foreign amplification of anti-army narratives.
- Pakistan’s Foreign Office condemned Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s remarks about the Pakistan Army as inflammatory and baseless.