Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson has clarified that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks about terrorism during his Iran visit were taken out of context. In his statement, the PM office spokesperson stated that making Imran Khan’s statement controversial cannot be taken as serving Pakistan in any case. The spokesperson of Prime Minister Khan elaborated that the objective of giving such a statement was to point out non-state actors. “Non-state actors had been using Pakistani soil,” and Indian spy Kulbhushan Jhadav is an example of it, the spokesperson stated, adding that the soils of Afghanistan and Iran had been used in the similar manner against Pakistan as well.
The National Assembly session was marred by rumpus on the second consecutive day, as lawmakers belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and opposition parties Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People’s Party continued to shout at each other when the opposition condemned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s public acknowledgement in Tehran that terrorists had, in the past, misused Pakistani territory to carry out attacks in Iran.
According to media report, the opposition parties staged a strong protest during the session and tore copies of the agenda. Things started boiling after PML-N leader Khurram Dastgir Khan pointed out that Imran Khan’s statement could take Pakistan on the back foot. He termed Imran Khan’s comment ‘dangerous’ and maintained that the premier gave a similar statement during an interview to the New York Times.
He added that no prime minister had ever made such a confession on foreign soil. He said the International Monetary Fund had linked the bailout package for Islamabad to the findings of the Financial Action Task Force. He recalled that Imran had previously suggested that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-election could help reach a settlement over occupied Kashmir, and alleged that the premier in a public meeting had said that he could shake hands with Modi but not the opposition. He also accused the prime minister of stating that the Pakistani military had created militants. He said that the prime minister had committed diplomatic blunders and premier had compromised national security through such statements. He said the PM had to come to the House to give an explanation. PPP MNA Hina Rabbani Khar also severly criticized PM Imran Khan for such statements. Although PM office has clarified his position on Imran Khan’s statement in Iran and termed it as out of context but it has already caused damage to the country’s reputation. PM and other leaders should be very careful in delivering statements during foreign visits. Such kind of statements may badly tarnish image of the country. It would be better to read written statements during such events to avoid any problem in future.
