Shahid Khaqan Abbasi: Sharif's statement about Mumbai attack was 'misreported'

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Monday that former premier Nawaz Sharif clarified to him that his statement about the Mumbai terror attack was "misreported".

Abbasi said this while talking to senior journalists after an emergency meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) - Pakistan's top civil-military body - that condemned Sharif's "fallacious" statement and termed it as "incorrect and misleading".

Sharif, for the first time, questioned Pakistan's policy to allow the "non-state actors" to cross the border and "kill" people in Mumbai as he publicly acknowledged in an interview that militant groups are active in the country. Abbasi said he also held a meeting with Sharif after the NSC meeting and asserted that Sharif did not say what was reported in the media about the Mumbai attack.

"A few sentences (from the newspaper interview) were blown out of proportion and context. I have clarified those (statements)," Abbasi asserted.

Stating that the NSC dismissed those words which were misreported, Abbasi said the meeting did not condemn Sharif but incorrect reporting of his interview.

"Indian media is giving the issue a different hue, and we should not be a part of it," he said. Abbasi said there was no tension between the civil and military. He said misunderstandings are removed in the light of the facts.

He expressed full support for Sharif and said the entire party, including party president Shehbaz Sharif, stands with him. "Nawaz Sharif is still our Quaid (supreme leader) ," he said.

He said that no one forced him to talk to the media and it was his own decision to give the explanatory statement. Abbasi said that he will not resign and complete the term.