ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has rejected Monday’s statement of the National Security Council (NSC) which had condemned the former premier’s controversial remarks on the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The NSC, which met under the chair of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, had termed Nawaz’s statement “incorrect and misleading”.
“The participants [of the NSC] observed that it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances was being presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities,” a statement issued by the PM Office had said.
Following the NSC statement, Abbasi had clarified at a press conference that Nawaz’s remarks were misquoted in the media.
Talking to reporters today at the accountability court hearing corruption cases against him and his family, Nawaz said the NSC statement is wrong, painful and frightening.
He also said that the NSC press release was not based on facts.
The three-time premier claimed Pakistan has become isolated in the world and wondered if any country is standing with Pakistan today.
He said further that former foreign minister Khawaja Asif should be asked what the world said about Pakistan when he used to go abroad to represent the country.
Talking about the ‘Dawn Leaks’ saga in 2016, Nawaz said at the time, national security leaders had talked about putting our own house in order, but the issue was turned into ‘Dawn Leaks’. “However, that was a fact,” he asserted.
Nawaz also reiterated his demand for the formation of a national commission to separate fact from fiction.
Later, speaking to the media while leaving the courtroom, Nawaz said the time has come to decide who is a patriot and who is a traitor. He was responding to being termed a traitor by political opponents.
He said further that he is not just a Pakistani citizen as the people elected him prime minister and he knows a lot of things.
Nawaz also asked who is responsible for bringing the country to its present state.
The former premier had made the call at a party rally in Buner Monday night, saying the guilty party, be it him for treason or those levelling allegations against him, should be publicly hanged following the commission’s verdict.
Nawaz, in an interview to Dawn newspaper published on May 12, had said, “Militant organisations are active. 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?”
His remarks were wrongfully played up by the Indian media as an admission of Pakistan’s involvement in the terrorist attacks and also led to criticism from opposition political parties in Pakistan and the local media.
Following the statement, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, led by Nawaz’s brother Shehbaz Sharif, had stated that the Indian media had misreported the statement.
“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 Indian media without going through the full facts of the statement,” a party spokesperson had said.