Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif Tuesday rejected a statement issued by the National Security Committee (NSC) following its meeting a day earlier, terming it ‘painful and regrettable’.

“I am not an ordinary citizen but a three-time prime minister elected by the people of Pakistan, hence I am privy to many a reality. I reject NSC’s statement as it is based on misperception,” Nawaz told reporters outside an accountability court hearing corruption references against him and his family.

In an exclusive interview with a local newspaper last week, Nawaz had criticised the apparent delay in the conclusion of the Mumbai attacks trial. “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.

Mainstream Indian media outlets, since the interview was published, blew up his statement on the attacks as a ‘confession’ of Pakistan’s role in the Mumbai incident.

The NSC statement issued after an urgent meeting summoned following the controversial remarks by Nawaz Sharif on 2008 Mumbai attacks dismissed former premier’s statement, terming it ‘incorrect and misleading’. “The participants 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. The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions,” the statement had read.

Speaking to reporters, Nawaz said the NSC statement was ‘not based on facts’. He reiterated his demand for the formation of a national commission to separate facts from the fiction. He said the time has come to decide who is a patriot and who is a traitor. “Who is responsible for bringing the country to its present state?” he asked. “We should find out who laid the foundation of terrorism in the country. Pakistan is not getting isolated, it is already isolated. Tell me which country stands with us, is there any?” he asked. “Khawaja Asif should be asked what the world would say about Pakistan when he would go abroad to represent the country,” he added.

Referring to a 2016 meeting in which, according to Dawn, the civilian government had informed the military leadership of Pakistan’s growing international isolation, Nawaz said, “Even at that time, the same things ? getting our house in order ? were being discussed in the NSC meeting. But, the matter was turned into ‘Dawn leaks’,” he said.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz said former information minister Pervaiz Rasheed should not have been removed over Dawn leaks saga. “Pervaiz Rasheed should not have been punished,” she said, while responding to a question regarding why the former minister was removed from his post if Dawn leaks was true.

PML-N leader Nehal Hashmi also arrived at the accountability court to express solidarity with the party’s supreme leader.

When asked if he regretted the statements that led to a one-month prison sentence, Hashmi said he was sentenced despite tendering an apology, and refused to further comment on it. However, after a long pause, the former senator quipped, “They are kings, they can do anything.”

Published in Daily Times, May 16^th 2018.