KARACHI: Remarks made by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Naeemul Haque on a TV show landed him in hot water on Monday night.

Mr Haque alleged that former Chief of the Army Staff retired Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani had rigged the last general elections.

He said this during an interview on Geo TV’s show Aaj Shahzaib Khanzada Kay Saath. The PTI’s spokesman claimed that his party lost the elections because of the former army chief.

On Tuesday morning, the PTI leader issued a clarification via Twitter: “My comments on Geo last night about General Kayani were my own and do not reflect [the] party[’s] stance in any way.”

“I have not accused General Kayani of anything but asked him for clarification of insinuations levelled against him in a national newspaper,” he wrote on the social media website 16 minutes after the first tweet.

On the show, Mr Haque said a “grand scheme” had been hatched between Pakistan, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Gen Kayani to make Nawaz Sharif win the 2013 elections.

He added that the PTI’s “suspicions were proven correct” and “a lot of people were exposed”.

The spokesperson explained that these allegations were made in the column of a national newspaper.

The article Mr Haque was referring to was written by Nazeer Naji for Dunya News. Towards the end of the column, is a note from the publication which requested readers to “enjoy the tone” of the column rather than taking it seriously.

Speaking to Geo News after the incident, Mr Haque said that he had been instructed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan to issue a clarification regarding his comments on the show.

“I have spoken to Imran Khan and he told me to clarify that this was not the stance of the party. It was an article published in a newspaper. My tweet and opinion were in my personal capacity,” he told Geo News.

“I tweeted the clarification as soon as I could this morning,” Mr Haque explained, adding that since the allegations had been raised by a journalist, they should be addressed by Gen Kayani.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2017