PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday accused PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal of using intelligence agencies to pressure and extract an apology out of a family that had heckled him at a restaurant last week.
Iqbal, the minister for planning and development, was jeered by the family on Friday night when he was out in public. Viral videos of the incident circulating online showed women and teenagers chanting anti-government slogans and hurling abuses at the minister, loudly calling him "chor".
Days later on Sunday, Iqbal said that the family had come to meet him and also apologised for their actions.
Addressing a rally in Layyah as part of canvassing for the by-elections on 20 seats in Punjab due on July 17, Imran addressed the incident, as he branded Iqbal "shameless and coward" for "pressuring the family through agencies to tender an apology."
The ex-PM said he would continue calling Iqbal and his leaders as "dacoits" as the "incumbent government had used its authority to get reprieve in Rs1.1 trillion corruption cases."
Imran, in reference to the July 17 by-polls, said a "big change" was around the corner that will put to bed the "[political] future of turncoats".
He asked PTI workers and supporters to canvass diligently, saying the country would have no future if the current rulers were re-imposed on the country in the by-elections.
He urged his followers to prevent the government's plans of rigging the elections by "keeping a watch on polling stations".
"Their Mr X who is based in Lahore is meeting Maryam and Punjab CM Hamza to temper the election results and bring these back to power," Imran alleged.
The PTI chief asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to reduce the prices of petroleum products in line with the dip in crude prices in the global market.
"Today, the price of oil are much lower in the global market so you (the PM) should bring down the petrol price to Rs150 per litre and diesel to Rs144 per litre," he demanded.
He also called out the government for raising the tariff of electricity to Rs35 per unit "contrary to the rate of Rs15 per unit during the PTI rule".
