Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak issued a clarification on Sunday saying he was "indebted" to Prime Minister Imran Khan, a day after his speech in which he claimed that Imran Khan's "government could not function even for a day if I wanted it [not to]".

In the video of his speech to a gathering in his native town of Manki Sharif in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Nowshera district, a recording of which is available with Dawn.com, Khattak can be heard saying: "I can take whoever I want to the heights [of success] and make zero whoever I want and this is a 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 but I am indebted to him".

"I do not only handle government officials but also deal with members of the opposition. Everyone respects me."

In a tweet today, Khattak clarified that he "clearly mentioned in my speech for the locals of my village in Nowshera that I’m sincere & indebted to Imran Khan".

"We are successful in our [constituency] due to our efforts & support of [Imran Khan]. We will defeat all opp. parties ganged up against the candidate we are supporting for the [by-election]."

The by-election in PK-63 constituency of Nowshera district is scheduled to be held on Feb 19. The PK-63 seat had fallen vacant after the death of member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel of the ruling PTI.

Earlier this month, PPP had announced the withdrawal of its candidate, Liaquat Shabab, from the by-election in favour of the PML-N nominee Ikhtiar Wali Khan.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidate Mufti Hakim Ali Haqqani had already announced support for the PML-N candidate in the by-election.