PTI MPA visits, apologises to man he slapped earlier during traffic brawl
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The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) official Twitter account on Wednesday retweeted a video of newly-elected MPA Imran Ali Shah apologising to a man he had physically assaulted a day before.
The video, apparently posted by Shah's own account, showed him hugging a man identified as 'Dawood', and looking apologetic. In another tweet, Shah posted pictures with the man as well.
Referring to the incident, the MPA said he "never wanted to take the law in [his] hand (sic), however, it was in a spur of a moment that I momentarily lost my cool and reacted in a way that brought embarrassment to my position, my party and my supporters".
A video of Shah slapping Dawood had gone viral on social media on Tuesday, sparking outrage on social media. The party leadership had taken notice of the incident and issued a show-cause notice to the MPA-elect. Senior party leader Firdous Naqvi had also tweeted that he had launched a probe.
Shah had subsequently posted a video apologising for "hurting anyone's feelings", and insisting that he had only "pushed" the man, even though the clip circulated on the internet had showed him raising his hand and hitting the man multiple times.
Shah further said that he had stepped out of his car after he saw the man "repeatedly hitting a poor man's car" and added that he "could not stand back and watch 'injustice' take place like this".
Meanwhile, Facebook page It's all about Pakistan posted a statement attributed to Dawood's son questioning the writ of the state.
The statement claimed that Dawood was a senior additional director of the Civil Aviation Authority and a friend of both Firdaus Naqvi and Najeeb Haroon, a PTI MNA.
Haroon and Shah were on the same PTI panel (NA-256, PS-129) in the July 25 elections.
The post questioned if Shah would have still visited Dawood and offered an apology "if he was not the friend of Firdous Shamim sahab and Najeeb Haroon sahab".
The post referred to Shah's apology video, saying that even if Dawood had "bumped into another car and that man and my father exchanged some words", he had still not launched a physical attack.
The statement clarified that Dawood did not associate Shah's actions with PTI, but went on to criticise the lack of action by law enforcing authorities.
It also asked users if they would have "accepted the apology" had the man been their father.
