RAWALPINDI: A meeting of the National Security Council has been called on Monday to discuss the misleading statement of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif about the Mumbai attacks, ARY News reported.
“NSC meeting suggested to Prime Minister (Shahid Khaqan Abbasi) to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident. Being held tomorrow morning,” said Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor in a tweet on Sunday.
The meeting to be chaired by the prime minister will expectedly be attended by the defence minister and the services’ chiefs among others.
The deposed premier’s ‘Mumbai attacks’ comments in an interview to a local newspaper have triggered a flood of criticism from analysts, politicians and general public in Pakistan.
In the interview, he implied as if the militants were allowed from this side of the border to go to India and carry out the attacks.
“Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can’t we complete the trial?,” said Nawaz while referring to the Mumbai attacks-related trials which have stalled in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court due to non-cooperation from India.
Slamming Sharif for his remarks, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman said he was essaying to dissipate sacrifices of Pakistanis against terrorism.
“Our party strongly rejects his stance, which compromises Pakistan’s narrative in the war against terrorism,” she said.
The senator said Sharif should really explain his position as a third time elected prime minister. How can he make such an irresponsible statement inimical to the national security of Pakistan and to its stated foreign policy, even during his own time, she said.
She asked, “How can he use the term ‘allow’? No democratic state would ever ‘allow’ non-state actors to go maim, plunder and loot across its border. What is Nawaz Sharif trying to do apart from serving his own interest?”
Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Sunday said the Indian government’s stubbornness and indifferent attitude hampered proceedings of Mumbai attacks trial from reaching its conclusion.
“I am fully cognizant of the complete phases of the Mumbai attacks case. Pakistan did not cause any delay in that case,” he said in an attempt to elucidate former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s statement on Mumbai attacks.
The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) spokesman in a statement said, “The PMLN would like to set the record straight on the interview of the PML-N Quaid carried yesterday by DAWN. At the outset, statement of the Quaid has been grossly misinterpreted by the Indian media. Unfortunately a section of Pakistani electronic and social media has intentionally or unintentionally not only validated but has lent credence to the malicious propaganda of the Indian media without going through the full facts of the statement.”
“The PML-N as the country’s premier popular national political party and its Quaid need no certificate from anybody on their commitment and capacity to preserve, protect and promote Pakistan’s national security. After all, it was Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who, resisting all pressures, took the most important and most difficult decision on national security in Pakistan’s history by making the country a nuclear power in May 1998.
“Additionally, comments of the PML-N Quaid about Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s role in the Party’s election campaign are also being misinterpreted. Mian Shahbaz Sharif is the elected President of the PML-N, and, in this capacity, he is already in the forefront of the election campaign, taking the PML-N message to every nook and corner of the country. There is, therefore, no ambiguity regarding his role and future responsibilities.”
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