A year after Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had venerated the dead Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by describing him as a 'shaheed', the country's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has now said that it was a "slip of the tongue" and that PM Khan had "clarified it", reports Economic Times.
The matter resurfaced recently after Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi last week refrained from calling Laden a terrorist in an interview with Afghanistan's Tolo News.
When the interviewer quoted PM Khan as calling bin Laden a 'martyr', Qureshi said, "He was quoted out of context. And, a particular section of the media pair it up."
Last year, standing in the Pakistani Parliament, PM Khan had said that for Pakistani nationals across the globe, it was an embarrassing moment when the Americans came, killed, and martyred Laden at Abottabad.
PM Khan said, "The whole world started abusing us after that. Our ally came inside our country and killed someone without informing us." He had then also tried to assert, "I don't think there's a country which supported the war on terror and had to face embarrassment for it. Pakistan was also openly blamed for US' failure in Afghanistan."
Comments ↓
An Appeal...
Dear Reader,
As you are no doubt aware, Swarajya is a media product that is directly dependent on support from its readers in the form of subscriptions. We do not have the muscle and backing of a large media conglomerate nor are we playing for the large advertisement sweep-stake.
Our business model is you and your subscription. And in challenging times like these, we need your support now more than ever.
We deliver over 10 - 15 high quality articles with expert insights and views. From 7AM in the morning to 10PM late night we operate to ensure you, the reader, get to see what is just right.
Becoming a Patron or a subscriber for as little as Rs 1200/year is the best way you can support our efforts.