- Haque tell reporters that they were ‘collectively misinformed’
- In the past, Haque made a statement about former army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani (retd) that he had ‘engineered 2013 polls in favour of PML-N’
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Naeem-ul-Haque apologised over his tweet regarding the former special assistant to the prime minister Tariq Fatemi.
A day earlier, Haq had tweeted an old picture of the government officials meeting with the Chinese nationals during which Fatemi—the diplomat who was recently fired in the Dawn Leaks controversy—was also present.
While talking to the media on Wednesday, Haque said other leaders of PTI, including Shireen Mazari and Shah Mehmood Qureshi also posted a similar statement, questioning whether Mazari and Shah Mehmood would also apologise.
Haque told reporters that they were “collectively misinformed.”
In his tweet, Haque had claimed Fatemi was accompanying the prime minister to China, despite being dismissed from his duties.
“Nawaz continues to deceive the nation. Tariq Fatemi accompanying him in China. So his being relieved of his duties was a lie. What a farce,” Haque’s tweet had read. He and Mazari had posted a photo from last year, when Fatemi held office, and an MoU signing ceremony was held on December 30, 2016, in Beijing.
“Govt lied again! Fatemi present in China on signing of MoUs! Part of official entourage. Shameful duplicity on DawnLeaks!” Mazari said in a tweet which has now been deleted.
To compound matters, prominent PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, during a National Assembly session, expressed PTI’s reservations over Fatemi ‘accompanying’ the premier even after his dismissal.
Talking to Pakistan Today, PTI’s Mehmood-ur-Rasheed said they should’ve been careful. “Naeem-ul-Haque is not the central information secretary anymore, but even then he should be careful with regards to his statements.”
In her response to mistakes, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb had posted that PTI’s reporting on Fatemi was ignorant and incompetent.
“PTI’s reporting on Tariq Fatemi at worst seditious and diabolic or at best ignorant and incompetent,” the state minister tweeted.
Aurangzeb also issued a statement saying, “Old habits die hard,” and added that the party had a tendency to resort to allegations without first ascertaining the facts. PTI, she said, through such utterances, wanted to create division between state institutions.
Tariq Fatemi was sacked after his name was included in the Dawn Leaks inquiry report which placed blame on him and other close aides to the prime minister for being involved in the scandal.
In the past, Haque made a statement about the former army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (retd) that he had ‘engineered 2013 polls in favour of PML-N’.
He quoted a satire piece, published on April 1, which suggested that PTI’s party was all set to win at least 60 per cent seats from all over Pakistan, however, due to massive rigging by certain policy circles their mandate was stolen.
Later on, the party (PTI) distanced itself from his statement.
