Pakistan’s Military wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), has issued a warning and said that it reserves the right to take legal action against people involved in “peddling malicious allegations and blatant lies” against its leadership.

ISPR’s warning comes in relevance to the claims made by journalist Shaheen Sehbai insinuating that former Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin was asked to switch sides and betray Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and help Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif. 

Sehbai tweeted, “NEUTRAL EXPOSED: I am going to write soon about WHY the Chief Neutral, proved by Shaukat Tarin as Non-Neutral as he asked Tarin to betray Imran Khan and help Shehbaz, is so sensitive and DEAD SCARED about his remaining four months in office. Something fishy, intriguing, alarming, unpatriotic.”

Tarin responded on Twitter: “I categorically deny what has been attributed to me by Shaheen Sehbai. I was never asked by anyone in the establishment to leave Imran Khan and join [the] Shehbaz Sharif government.”

The word ‘neutral’, used frequently by Imran Khan and his party, is seen as a reference to the military establishment.

ISPR termed Sehbai’s remarks as baseless propaganda.

“The insinuations by Shaheen Sehbai and some others on social media quoting the former finance minister are baseless propaganda,” an ISPR statement issued less than two hours after Tarin’s tweet said. “The same has also been duly rebutted by Shaukat Tarin himself.”

“Peddling malicious allegations and blatant lies against the institution and its leadership to promote vested interests is condemnable and [the] institution reserves the right to take legal action against those involved,” it concluded.

On Wednesday, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa presided over the 80th Formation Commanders’ Conference. 

General Bajwa during the conference said that the Pakistan Army was a professional institution that shall always fulfill its responsibilities towards the security, integrity, and sovereignty of Pakistan as a sacred duty.