KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Naeemul Haque on Friday said that party chairman Imran Khan had praised him for slapping Privatisation Minister Daniyal Aziz during a talk show on television. However, as the news went viral, Mr Haque took to Twitter to retract his statement.

On Tuesday, Mr Haque and Mr Aziz were present in the Islamabad studios of Geo News for the recording of Aapas Ki Baat when the minister called the PTI leader a “thief” and, in response, Mr Haque slapped him.

On Friday, television channels aired a video statement by Mr Haque in which he claimed that the PTI chief had said that he had done “the right thing” by slapping Mr Aziz.

Mr Haque said that Mr Aziz attacked the party chief’s character and “he kept doing it”. He added that Mr Aziz was lying and when the PML-N leader accused him of being a thief, he had a natural reaction and slapped him.

In the video, Mr Haque claimed that the PTI chief and other party members had appreciated and praised his action.

Soon after the video was aired, however, Mr Haque took to Twitter to clarify that Mr Khan did not praise him for slapping the minister.

“Contrary to what some media is projecting IK [Imran Khan] never appreciated the slap but commended me for countering the abusive and false onslaught of Daniyal. IK never encourages use of violence anywhere anytime,” he tweeted.

On Thursday, during his speech in the National Assembly, Mr Aziz said that he stood by his words of calling Mr Khan and Mr Haque thieves because “Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen stole public money through tax evasion and amnesty”.

He condemned the fact that no action had been taken against Mr Haque by the party. The minister said that the PTI did not have the moral courage to admit to a mistake and offer an apology.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2018