Muhammad Irfan Elahi, CAA chairman, confirmed that one engine was known to be out of order.
The word 'confirmed' adds much weight to this statement but.....I can fully understand another meaning to this wording. English is not the first language and there might be some stress situation in a press conference/release. "out of order" means it's not working correctly. It is said that the crew reported an engine malfunction in the air = out of order. It does not necessarily mean it was not serviceable before takeoff.