Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, described Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan as a “puppet” on Sunday after the latter used the same word for PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

“Puppet is a word synonymous with you. Aaj ye tweet kerne ka hukam mila hai (Have you been ordered to this tweet this today)?” Maryam responded to a tweet by Khan wherein he claimed that the PM was a ‘puppet’ of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief.

She hinted that the PTI chief was ‘ordered’ to tweet these remarks on the micro-blogging website, without naming any individual or institution.

The PTI chief, in his tweet, had attacked the prime minister for failing to remove Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is facing corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in accountability court.

Calling Dar the “Sharif mafia’s front man and absconder”, Khan said the former ruling family was scared that the finance minister “may spill more beans” against them as he had done in the past also.

Dar was the prosecution witness in the Rs1.2 billion Hudaibiya scam case against the Sharif family following his ouster by former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

Dar had also submitted a confessional statement with the written application, in which he said his involvement in the Sharif family’s money laundering case was out of free will. Following this, Dar was granted pardon on April 25, 2000.

Imran has repeatedly said Dar’s confessional statement on Hudaibiya scam case highlights the money trail of Sharif family’s London flats in the Panama Papers case.