Family who heckled me have apologised, Ahsan Iqbal

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Sunday said that the family of PTI supporters who had heckled him two days prior has "apologised" and "expressed remorse and embarrassment".

In a tweet accompanying a photo with the family who had visited him at his residence, the minister wrote: "The family involved in the incident came to Narowal and apologised for their actions in our meeting and expressed remorse and embarrassment."

Iqbal said that he had already announced he "won't be taking legal action against them".

"We are all Pakistanis. We must not turn the right to disagree with each other into hatred and must maintain mutual respect," he added.

Iqbal was heckled by a group of PTI supporters on Friday at a fast food restaurant where he had apparently gone for dinner.

The video of the incident showed people hurling abuses at the minister and quickly went viral on social media.

Later on, taking to Twitter, Iqbal wrote: “Today, a family — who apparently considered themselves elites and supported PTI — clashed with me.”

بھیرہ واقعہ میں ملوث فیملی نے نارووال آ کر ملاقات میں اپنے عمل پر معذرت کی،پچھتاوے اور شرمندگی کا اظہار کیا۔میں پہلے ہی ان کیخلاف قانونی چارہ جوئی نہ کرنے کا اعلان کر چکا تھا۔ہم سب پاکستانی ہیں ایک دوسرے سے اختلاف کے حق کو نفرت میں تبدیل نہیں کرنا اور باہمی احترام قائم رکھنا ہے۔ pic.twitter.com/Ck1z4YNqxs

— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) July 10, 2022

“Instead of holding a dialogue with me they started chanting slogans,” he wrote, adding that as a counter-attack, other people present at the restaurant also started chanting slogans against the PTI.

Criticising the PTI Chairman Imran Khan for "instilling hatred" among people, Iqbal wrote: “Just like their ignorant and lunatic leader, his supporters are following suit.”

Retweeting a condemnation tweet, the planning minister further said: “These people, who claim to be literate, are actually ignorant and fascist just like the followers of Hitler."

“We are neither going to get intimidated by them nor will we surrender because of them,” he wrote, adding that such people are "proof of PTI's mental bankruptcy”.

“Imran [Khan] is polarising the society at the behest of illicit funders,” he added.

Many Twitterati condemned the incident and called it a manifestation of the growing intolerance in Pakistani politics.