Pakistan Army calls high-level meet to discuss Nawaz Sharif's statement

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

The Pakistan Army will hold a high-level meeting tomorrow to discuss the "recent misleading media statement" about Mumbai terror attack, officials said today, a day after ousted premier Nawaz Sharif questioned the policy to allow "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai.

Sharif, for the first time, publicly acknowledged in an interview that militant organisations are active in Pakistan and questioned the policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai.

Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Twitter that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was suggested to call a meeting of the high-powered National Security Committee (NSC), a platform of top civil and military leadership to discuss key national issues. "The NSC meeting suggested to Prime Minister to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding Bombay incident. Being held tomorrow morning," said Ghafoor.

In an an exclusive interview with Dawn on Friday, Sharif also criticised the apparent delay in the conclusion of the Mumbai attack trial. Sharif, who has been disqualified to hold public office for life by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, said Pakistan has isolated itself. He is under attack from opponents as well as some of the estranged leaders from his Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N) party for allegedly supporting the Indian narrative on the Mumbai attack case and harming national interests.

Leading opposition leader and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan said that Sharif was speaking the language of (Indian Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and cooperating against enemies of Pakistan to harm the country.

"Nawaz Sharif is the modern-day Mir Jafar who collaborated with the British to enslave his nation for personal gains. Nawaz speaking Modi's language against Pak State simply to protect his ill-gotten Rs 300 billion stashed in his sons' companies abroad," he said on Twitter. Meanwhile, Sharif's younger brother Shahbaz Sharif said that media misrepresented views of the former prime minister.

"Can anybody think that Nawaz Sharif will say such things," he said. But already Sharif's interview has been created a huge controversy in Pakistan. Dunya TV reported that a local has approached the police in Chakwal district to register a criminal case against him for endangering security of the country.

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