Khawaja Asif refuses apology for remarks on PTI women lawmakers

Islamabad: Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday declined to offer an apology for his recent remarks directed towards Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) women lawmakers.

During his address to the National Assembly, PTI women senators demanded an apology from Khawaja Asif regarding his comments. However, the Defense Minister stood firm and defended his statements, stating that he would only apologize if the PTI chairman apologizes for his remarks concerning Maryam Nawaz.

Khawaja Asif clarified that his remarks were not intended to be gender-specific, and he did not make any derogatory comments about women.

Earlier, Khawaja Asif's comments about PTI women lawmakers caused uproar in the National Assembly. The federal minister referred to PTI women senators as 'garbage' and 'remains' of PTI in the senate.

Following this, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar requested the speaker to expunge the words spoken in the heat of the moment by both PTI senator Ali Zafar and Khawaja Asif.

PTI senator Ali Zafar had referred to the current members of the assembly as a herd of sheep. The speaker granted the request and expunged both remarks from the assembly's proceedings.

In 2016, Khawaja Asif faced criticism from opposition leaders for referring to Shireen Mazari as a “tractor trolley” during her attempt to protest against Asif's briefing on load-shedding in the country during Ramazan.