Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has alleged that a troika of some disheartened politicians, retired military officials and journalists is hatching conspiracies against the government.

Speaking on a DawnNews programme on Wednesday, he reiterated that the country was going through a sensitive phase and civil-military relations is the most sensitive fault line for the future of Pakistan. "If we manage to organise the civil-military relations, we will win the war for Pakistan," he said.

A lot of mistrust exists among politicians towards the establishment and within the establishment towards politicians, Iqbal said, adding that the government has to tackle the situation very carefully.

The minister said that according to his findings after thoroughly observing the history of martial laws in the country, no martial law was imposed because of a political failure or crisis. All the marital laws were triggered by army chiefs when they found their jobs in jeopardy, he said.

Talking about the visible vacuum in political circles, he said leadership plays a vital role in political parties and a vacuum is created when the political leadership — particularly in the case of the PML-N — is expelled in an unnatural manner.

He defended the "bitterness" in the tone of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and said it was justified. Explaining the reasons behind this bitterness, he maintained that despite showing his assets worth tens of millions of rupees, he was disqualified because he had been entitled to a salary of nearly Rs0.15 million.

The chief executive of the country was expelled without providing a chance to appeal whereas even a government employee of grade-4 is provided with a chance to appeal thrice against the termination, the minister alleged.

He said that politicians, judiciary, and armed forces should not show irresponsibility.

In a veiled reference to the impression that some politicians compel the army to take over, he said, "Both the person who tempts and the person who gets tempted breach the Constitution."