(NNI): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders hit back at Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday after the Pakistan Peoples Party chairman demanded sacking of ministers in the government’s cabinet who he claimed were associated with banned outfits.

PTI Senator Faisal Javed, reacting to the allegations, said Bilawal was “busy in portraying Pakistan in a negative light”.

“Bilawal should be ashamed of trying to please anti-Pakistan elements. He should tell the nation whose language he has been speaking,” the PTI leader lashed out. “He should not forget that PPP is a thing of the past. [The party’s] entire focus is on saving looted wealth and foreign properties.”

“Pakistan has emerged as a symbol of peace for the world,” Javed added.

Finance Minister Asad Umar, when asked by a reporter what he thought of the allegations, said that the parties that supported him during election campaigns “have themselves been victims of terrorism as well.”

“There has been a policy of making excuses for a long time now… If he [Bilawal] doesn’t believe in this policy then he should change it,” the minister responded.

Bilawal had earlier alleged that as many as three federal ministers were in close contact with members of proscribed organizations, and demanded that Prime Minister Imran Khan take strict action against the cabinet members in question.

“As long as compromised individuals remain in the cabinet no one will take GOP claims seriously. Those who have supported such groups and their training camps must be removed from the federal cabinet,” the PPP leader had tweeted.

Earlier on Tuesday, Bilawal said he had been declared anti-state over his demand to sack ministers associated with banned outfits.

“The government has responded to my demand to sack ministers associated with banned outfits by declaring me anti-state, issuing death threats & NAB notices. None of this deters us from our principle stand; form joint NSC parliamentary committee & act against banned outfits,” he tweeted.