ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid Tuesday said before criticising senior lawyer Asma Jehangir, Imran Khan should understand that political liberties enjoyed by him today were the outcome of sacrifices rendered by democratic people like Jehangir.

The minister, in a statement, said the criticism on leaders, who had rendered great sacrifices for democracy in the country, was condemnable.

He asked those leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), who were well aware of Asma Jehangir's democratic and political struggle for rights, to force Khan to retract his statement.

Earlier in the day while addressing participants of his ongoing sit-in at D-Chowk, the PTI chairman had said that Asma Jehangir criticises women for dancing in his rallies whereas she herself has done the same in India.

“Apparently Asma Jehangir and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman have become friends,” he added.

The remarks follow Jehangir’s criticism hurled at the PTI chief for issuing ‘anti-judiciary’ statements against the backdrop of the latter’s objection in the appointment of Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC).