Ousted prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif on Monday defended his recent remarks about the 2008 Mumbai attacks — which have stirred a controversy in Pakistan as well as in India — asking, “What did I say that was wrong in the interview?”
Nawaz, while talking to reporters outside an accountability court in Islamabad, read excerpts from his interview with The Dawn during which he spoke on matters related to the country’s foreign policy.
“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?” he had asked in the interview, referring to the Mumbai attacks-related trial proceedings which have stalled in the Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.
A report in the Dawn said that soon after the publication of Nawaz’s interview on Saturday, the Indian media blew up his remarks, terming it an ‘admission’ on part of the former prime minister about Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
Subsequently, the party issued a clarification on Sunday, saying that the Indian media had “grossly misinterpreted” Nawaz’s remarks.
The army, also on Sunday, had ‘suggested’ to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to convene a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), the country’s top civil-military body, to “discuss misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident”. The NSC meeting was held today in Islamabad.
