Asad Umar clarifies statement about 'beating' media, participants of PDM's long march

• Asad Umar says "we don't need to resort to physical beating; we are neither afraid of the Opposition nor free media".
• Says long marchers will "still be beaten up [not physically] but they would receive political thrashing."
• Clarifies earlier statement about using violence against participants of march, media. 

Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has issued a clarification regarding his statement about "beating" the participants of the long march, Geo News reported Monday. 

Speaking during today's session of the National Assembly, the minister said that the government has nothing to worry about, adding that the participants of the match will "still be beaten up [not physically] but they would receive political thrashing." 

"We don't need to resort to physical beating; we are neither afraid of the Opposition nor free media".

It should be recalled that a few days ago, Umar had come under fire as he threatened to deal with the participants of the Pakistan Democratic Movement's long march with an iron fist. At the time, Umar had used the Punjabi word "kutt" (thrashing) to deal with the marchers and had told them not to head towards Islamabad. 

Clarifying his earlier statement, the minister said that people accused him of issuing violent threats and urged a case should be registered against him.

"I had only said that there are some facilitators of the PDM working for media organisations, without naming any particular journalist," the minister said.