Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak issued a clarification on Sunday sayinghe was “indebted” to Prime Minister Imran Khan, a day after his speech inwhich he claimed that Imran Khan’s “government could not function even fora day if I wanted it [not to]”.

In the video of his speech to a gathering in his native town of MankiSharif in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Nowshera district, a recording of which isavailable with *Dawn.com*, Khattak can be heard saying: “I can take whoeverI want to the heights [of success] and make zero whoever I want and this isa result of my hard work.”

During the speech he made on Saturday, the minister also said that he was”competing against the entire country”, going on to add, “if I do[mischief], Imran Khan’s government would not function even for one day butI am indebted to him”.