Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) cheif Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday took a jibe at Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and called him an “international puppet” for reportedly having succumbed to pressure from Saudi Arabia and cancelling his trip to Malaysia.

Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah had last week quoted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying that Pakistan had decided to stay away from the recently concluded Kuala Lumpur summit because of Saudi Arabia’s threats of economic sanctions.

The statement had come amid claims by media outlets that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had “pressurised and threatened” Pakistan to refrain from participating in the summit that was attended by hundreds of government officials, businessmen, representatives of civil societies and experts from different sectors across the Muslim world.

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Besides Erdogan, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were among the Muslim world leaders who attended the summit hosted by Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohammad. Meanwhile, Riyadh had rejected claims that Islamabad was told not to participate.

With the PPP chief continuing to taunt the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for being “selected to power” and PM Imran for being “powerless”, he has now said that the premier “is not just a puppet of Pakistan, but also that of another country”.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Bilawal also announced that he would not appear before the Nat­ional Accountability Bureau (NAB) on December 24, saying the call-up notice served to him by the anti-corruption watchdog is “unconstitutional and illegal”.

NAB had summoned the PPP chairperson for a second time this month in the fake bank accounts and money laundering case on December 24.

According to Dawn, Bilawal accused the government of creating obstacles in his party’s plans to observe late former PM Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary on December 27, and also called out the Imran administration for “preventing a son from observing the death anniversary of his mother” by not yet issuing permission to hold the death anniversary observance ceremony.

“I will become even more dangerous if I am arrested. Arrest me if you can,” the PPP chief maintained as he criticised the government for “selective accountability” and for attempting to “pressurise the opposition”.