Pakistan on damage control mode over Sharif's interview

Islamabad : Switching on the damage control mode, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Nawaz Sharif has been misqoted in his interview, in which he accepted that 2002 Mumbai terror attacks in India were conducted by Pakistan.

In an interview with the daily Dawn on Saturday, Mr. Sharif said militant organisations were active in Pakistan. He called 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 said.

Sharif's quote in the interview was widely reported by Indian and international media interpreting the remarks as allegations on the military.

On Sunday, the military called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council which reviewed Mr. Sharif’s remarks, and said in a statement that “it was very unfortunate that the opinion arising out of either misconceptions or grievances, was presented in disregard of concrete facts and realities.”

“The participants unanimously rejected the allegations and condemned the fallacious assertions,” it said.

PM Abbasi conducted a press conference and said that Sharif also denies making any of such statement.

However, Mr. Sharif, stated that he stands by his remarks. “What did I say in the interview that was wrong.”