‘No pressure, we apologised to Ahsan Iqbal willingly,’ says family who heckled PML-N leader

• PTI sparks new controversy over Ahsan Iqbal's heckling incident.
• Shahbaz Gill says family was pressurised to apologise.
• Family says they apologised willingly. 

KARACHI: A member of the family, who heckled PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal last week, said that there was “no pressure” on them and they apologised to the federal minister “willingly”.

Talking to Geo News, family member Osama Sher regretted the behaviour and clarified their position after PTI’s Shahbaz Gill claimed that they were “threatened” and “pressurised” to apologise.

"We realised that we have made a mistake," he said.

Osama Sher said there was no pressure on them and they went to Ahsan Iqbal's house willingly and apologised for their conduct.

“I don't know where such things come from on social media. This was 100% our decision to apologise and our family also realised that what we did was wrong.”

The family had gone to the PML-N leader’s residence on Sunday and "expressed remorse and embarrassment".

In a tweet accompanying a photo with the family who had visited him at his residence, Ahsan Iqbal 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 on Friday at the 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.”

“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.”