Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah on Sunday said that the recent “drama” by the PTI where it has repeatedly alleged that chairman Imran Khan’s chief of staff Shahbaz Gill was tortured is nothing but a “lie” with the aim of diverting attention from the party’s “anti-state” narrative.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the interior minister said: “Shahbaz Gill had everything planned with the private television channel, from when they will call him, to how long the conversation will run.”

He was referring to the August 8 conversation on television by Gill where he spoke against the army. The next day he was arrested on sedition charges.

“I can confirm as the interior minister that no torture was carried out against Gill,” said Sanaullah.

The interior minister denounced Khan’s remarks from the night prior, when he addressed a rally and spoke at length against the police and judiciary, saying that “Imran Niazi’s narrative is an anti-state agenda”.

Speaking of the divisive social media trends that were launched in the wake of the Lasbela helicopter tragedy in which six army personnel were martyred, Sanaullah alleged that it was an “organised campaign” which had the “support of Imran Khan”.

“Imran Niazi’s narrative is a foreign agenda,” he said.

The minister said that many politicians had “spoken in the past about the interference of the establishment, but no one ever provoked anyone to stop obeying the orders of the command”.

“Such a heinous conspiracy will neither be tolerated by the state, nor forgiven,” he said.

More to follow.