ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister and under-fire PML-N leader, Nawaz Sharif on Monday defended the remarks he had made on the Mumbai attacks in an interview with the English newspaper Dawn, and claimed that he had simply ‘asked a question’, and was now ‘demanding an answer’.
Speaking outside the accountability court hearing charges of corruption against him and his family, the ousted Prime Minister claimed that he was not the first person to have accepted the ‘facts’ and argued that it was because of a lack of scrutiny that Pakistan’s global image continued to be tarnished.
He countered voices calling him a traitor, claiming, “those who made the nuclear bomb are being dubbed as traitors.”
Nawaz also highlighted the sacrifices the armed forces, the police, and Pakistan’s civilians have made in the debilitating war on terror.
In an interview with Dawn newspaper’s Cyril Almeida, Nawaz Sharif had insinuated that state elements within Pakistan might have been responsible for the violence that gripped Mumbai in 2008, and that killed 170 people.
The former PM said,
“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?”
Nawaz Sharif’s party, the PML-N, however, released a statement on Sunday night that dispelled claims that Nawaz Sharif had hinted at the state’s involvement, and instead said that the Indian media had ‘grossly misinterpreted’ Sharif’s remarks.
