ISLAMABAD: Offeri­­ng an ‘apology of sorts’ for his remarks, Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif said on Thursday that he would only say sorry on the condition that PTI members repented the alleged abusive lang-uage they had used for Maryam Nawaz and Faryal Talpur.

Speaking on the floor of both Senate and National Assembly a couple of days after making the offensive comments that drew the ire of PTI women lawmakers, Mr Asif claimed he did not need to apologise as his “comments were taken out of context”.

“My remarks were not against female members of PTI,” he claimed.

The defence minister maintained that he was responding to observations made by PTI Senator Ali Zafar, who alleged that the government was bulldozing legislation.

“I was reminding him of the days when the PTI government passed 54 bills within minutes,” Mr Asif said.

“My remarks were not gender specific. I referred to both male and female members of PTI as ‘remnants’ and ‘garbage’,” he said, repeating the offending terms.

On Tuesday, the minister used sexist and derogatory remarks referring to women from the opposition PTI in a joint session of parliament, referring to them as “remains” and “ruins” of the party, “which had to be cleaned.”

However, on Thursday the defence minister conceded that he did get carried away in his speeches, giving the example of the time when he referred to vice chancellors as ‘dacoits’ but later had to withdraw his remarks and apologise.

However, he drew attention towards Imran Khan’s speeches, where the PTI chief had publicly used what he called “foul language” for PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and Asif Zardari’s sister, Faryal Talpur.

“PTI set the standards of vulgarity in political speeches. Imran Khan appreciates such language. Why do PTI members condone such offensive language from their leader?” he asked rhetorically.

Apart from PTI members, the minister also faced criticism from the ruling coalition in both houses. Senator Humayun Mohmand said he would not stay in the Senate unless Mr Asif apologised for his unwarranted remarks.

JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza also slammed Mr Asif and conceded that unsuitable remarks were passed from the treasury benches against women parliamentarians. “I apologise, even if nobody else does,” he said, requesting the defence minister to tender an apology.

Later, Public Accounts Committee Chairman Noor Alam Khan also lamented the use of derogatory language for women parliamentarians by the defence minister on the floor of the National Assembly.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2023