A Lahore-based leader of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has issued an apology after he came under fire on social media for putting up banners that contained text deemed offensive to Hindus.

The banners featuring the image of Mian Akram Usman, the PTI Lahore general secretary, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah were put were up in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day, which was observed across the country on February 5.

The poster was accompanied by the text "Hindu baat se nahi, laat se maanta hai" (Hindus cannot be reasoned with using words but by force).

After coming under criticism on social media, Usman took to Twitter to apologise to "all peacefully living 'Hindus' [on] both sides of the border".

When approached for a comment, Usman told DawnNewsTV that he had asked his printer to prepare posters in connection with Kashmir day which should have text critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The printer "misunderstood" and replaced the word "Modi" with "Hindu" on the banners, the PTI office-bearer claimed.

Dawn.com is trying to reach the concerned printing service for comment.

Later, while responding to a Twitter user, Usman said the posters had been removed "immediately" after they came to his notice. "I'm not the one who [gets] stuck on mistakes," he wrote.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari in a tweet on Thursday said the PTI general secretary had been "reprimanded and posters were taken off immediately".

She termed it "a shameful and ignorant approach by the individual".

In March last year, PTI's Fayyazul Hassan Chohan was removed as the Punjab information and culture minister amid intense criticism over his derogatory remarks against the Hindu community. However, he returned to the Punjab cabinet four months later, after being appointed the forestry, fisheries and wildlife minister.