ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan had a “slip of the tongue” when he called slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden a “martyr”, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry has said.
In June last, the prime minister, while recounting the lows of the relationship between Islamabad and Washington on the floor of the National Assembly, told MPs that bin Laden had been “martyred” by US forces.
Bin Laden, who allegedly masterminded the 9/11 attacks, was killed in a raid on his hideout in 2011 after eluding detection for nearly 10 years.
“I will never forget how we Pakistanis were embarrassed when the Americans came into Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden […] martyred him,” he had said.
Speaking to a news channel Sunday, Chaudhry said that the statement was “a slip of the tongue” and the prime minister “had clarified it”.
Pakistan, he said, considered bin Laden a terrorist and his al Qaeda group a militant outfit.
He recalled that Pakistan had voted in favour of al Qaeda being listed on the terrorist list at the United Nations and that it followed international law on militant organisations.
While Adviser to the Prime Minister for Political Communication Shahbaz Gill had defended Imran, saying he had twice used the word “killed” for bin Laden –in addition to martyred — the controversy surfaced again last week when Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in an interview with Tolo News of Afghanistan ducked a question on bin Laden, refraining from calling him a terrorist.
Qureshi, when the interviewer quoted Prime Minister Imran Khan as calling the former al Qaeda leader a “martyr”, said: “Out of context. He [prime minister] was quoted out of context.”
But when asked if he would disagree, the foreign minister paused for a while and then said: “I will let it pass.”
The following day, Fawad categorically said that those who kill innocent people are “terrorists”.
He said that there was “no confusion at any level” regarding those who carried out terrorist activities and killed innocent people.
“That is terrorism and the perpetrators are terrorists. We have suffered the pain of terrorism in our own land and can understand the pain of all who have lost their loved ones in these cowardly attacks,” he said in a tweet.
STATE-OWNED MEDIA TO BE DIGITISED:
Seperately, Fawad, while speaking at the National Immature Short Film Festival organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Inter-Services Public Relations in Islamabad, said the digitalisation of the state-owned media including Radio Pakistan, Pakistan Television and Associated Press of Pakistan would be initiated by August.
He said reforms were being introduced in the ministry to help it meet contemporary challenges, Radio Pakistan reported.
Fawad regretted that Pakistan offered numerous sacrifices in the war against terrorism, but failed to promote its narrative in an effective way.
He said media is an important tool with the states around the globe to help to shape public opinion and promoting the narrative of the states.
The minister said the journey of a “Naya Pakistan” has already begun under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He also lauded ISPR for giving a new dimension to short films in Pakistan.
Imran calling bin Laden ‘martyr’ was ‘slip of tongue’: Fawad
Whatever he says in assembly is slip of tongue/s, whatever he says on container tops is a slip of his many tongue/s. ONLY WHAT HE SAYS TO HIS WIFE IS TRUE?
The jokers with their idiotic periodic statements have made entire Pakistan a ‘confused mass of protoplasm’. 😜
Niyazi calling Osama a martyr is one terrorist praising another terrorist. Islamic jihadi of Pakistan