PM’s statement in Iran taken out of context: PMO

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday came out with a clarification of the statement given by Prime Minister Imran Khan two days ago in Tehran during his visit to Iran claiming that the Pakistani soil being used to carry out attacks in Iran has been taken out of context.

The PMO issued the clarification in the wake of scathing criticism made in the National Assembly by the opposition a day earlier. The PMO clarification has maintained that Prime Minister Imran Khan was talking about non-state actors using Pakistani soil under foreign influence to carry out activities in Pakistan or coordinating from Pakistan. The statement has referred to the example of Kulbhushan Jadhav in this regard.

“In the same manner, Pakistan is attacked using soil of Iran and Afghanistan. The same was clearly stated by the prime minister during his visit to Iran while referring to the latest incident in Balochistan,” the statement reads, adding that the prime minister is making all efforts for peace across the whole region. The assertion wasn’t part of the statement that has been facing blistering criticism.

“The prime minister’s statement being linked to any other context is an effort to misinterpret the expression which doesn’t serve Pakistan in any way,” the statement added. Imran Khan came under severe criticism from the opposition in the National Assembly on Tuesday for his statement in which he conceded that Pakistani soil had been used in the past by terrorists to carry out attacks in Iran.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart and former defence minister Khurram Dastgir Khan termed it highly irresponsible. Former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar censured the prime minister in harsh words. “Our prime minister stood beside the Iranian president and said that our soil was being used for terrorist activities. This is not funny anymore,” she said.

Khar said the prime minister’s statements were turning the country into a laughing stock in the world. “It is worrying to see the country being ridiculed continuously,” she added. Former leader of the opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah on Wednesday demanded trial of Imran Khan under Article 6 of the Constitution for ‘treason’.