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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has clarified that Prime Minister Imran Khan referring to slain Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as “martyred” last year was a “slip of the tongue”.
Speaking to a private news channel, the Information Minister stressed that the government’s position regarding the terrorist entity is clear. “Pakistan considers Osama Bin Laden a militant and the al-Qaeda as a terrorist outfit,” he added.
“Pakistan has voted in the United Nations on the War on Terror against militants, we are a voter on a UN list that declared Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda terrorists,” Fawad Chaudhry added.
“Pakistan has sacrificed the most in the war against terrorism,” Chaudhry said, reiterating that it was a slip of the tongue and the Prime Minister had clarified it.
In June 2020, during an address to the National Assembly, Prime Minister Imran Khan had recalled how the Americans had conducted an operation in Abbottabad and “killed Osama Bin Laden — martyred him”.
The Prime Minister had said Pakistan had to face a lot of “humiliation” despite supporting Washington in the ‘war on terror’ and was then blamed for the US’s failures in Afghanistan.
At the time, the opposition lambasted the premier for his remarks, with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari saying the prime minister’s choice of words was consistent with his history of appeasement to violent extremism.
The controversy surfaced again last week when Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi refrained from calling Osama bin Laden a terrorist in an interview with an international news channel.
When the interviewer quoted Prime Minister Imran as calling bin Laden a “martyr”, FM Qureshi said that the remarks were taken out of context. “PM Imran Khan was quoted out of context. And, uh, you know, a particular section of the media played it up,” he added.
“Is he a martyr? You disagree? Osama bin Laden?” asked Najafizada. “I will let that pass,” responded Qureshi, after a brief pause.
When asked to comment on why the foreign minister hesitated in answering a question on the premier’s statement on bin Laden, the information minister said Qureshi may have wanted to put the issue behind him and move forward.