KARACHI: Accusing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of becoming an “instrument of anti-state lobbies”, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal alleged on Friday that the major opposition party was demanding its founder Imran Khan’s release via an executive order and an NRO-like deal, amid ongoing talks with the government. “Keys of a nuclear state was given to a person who doesn’t even have the experience to run a union council,” Iqbal said, while apparently referring to the allegations Imran Khan came to power via backdoor in 2018, during a press conference in Karachi. He blamed the former ruling party for plunging the country into quagmire due to its “mismanagement and incompetence”.The federal minister also hailed Pakistan’s remittances reaching $3.1 billion in December, marking a 29.3% year-on-year increase. He termed the surge a failure of the PTI’s appeals to overseas Pakistanis to boycott remittances. Jailed PTI founder Khan last month called on his supporters to launch the anti-government movement by withholding remittances in the first phase. Amid the announcement, the PTI and the government kicked off negotiations, with two rounds of talks held so far. The federal minister, in today’s presser, emphasised that political stability was crucial for attracting foreign investments to the country. Responding to the PTI leaders’ calls for taking up Khan’s cases on international forums, Iqbal said that the opposition party became an “instrument of anti-state lobbies”.”We had never taken up our grievances over fabricated cases before the US,” he added referring to cases against the incumbent ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders during ex-PM Khan’s era.Earlier today, Aleema Khan, the sister of incarcerated Khan, threatened to knock at the door of all the international institutions in connection with the dozens of cases against the PTI founder. He also termed PTI’s demand for Khan’s release via executive order “NRO” — a term derived from former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf’s National Reconciliation Ordinance back in 2007 to grant amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, money laundering, murders and terrorism.s