ISLAMABAD  -  Bushra Bibi, the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan, has played a religion card for political gains ahead of the PTI’s November 24 protest – a move that is being seen as damaging not only for the party but also for the Pak-Saudi relations.

For the same reason, the senior leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has distanced itself from the controversial remarks of former first lady alleging the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) behind the ouster of her spouse’s government.

Incarcerated politician and ex-premier Khan himself has tried to explain the outburst of his wife against Saudi rulers by giving a new twist to it in a bid to control the damage, but many critics are cynical about this justification.

PTI chief Imran Khan in a statement on X put a different spin on the issue by saying that his wife’s statement was deliberately taken out of context to “draw our brotherly country KSA into a needless controversy.” She didn’t mention Saudi Arabia at all, he added.

Putting all blame on the ex-Army Chief, Khan said his government was toppled through conspiracies, all orchestrated by General Bajwa.

He went on to say that his wife has no connection with politics and she only conveyed his message to the nation, as his wife, regarding the protest.

Many political analysts believe that it was not a slip of tongue from Bushra, rather she gave a very calculated message and used a religion card in a bid to gather maximum public support to make the upcoming power show of his husband’s party successful.

The November 24 protest has turned into a “do or die” situation for the PTI as the party is making a last-ditch effort to get its leader Imran Khan released from jail, which is the primary objective of the demonstration that is being dubbed as “final call.” But for many, the idea of using the religion card was not fair enough.