Islamabad: Pakistan PM Imran Khan called Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in the US, a “shaheed” (martyr) saying that his killing on Pakistani soil by US Navy Seals in 2011 had caused a lot of embarrassment to the country. Addressing the National Assembly about his government’s foreign policy, Khan said Pakistan had to face immense “humiliation” in the past despite it supporting Washington in the war on terror.
Recalling the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, in the Pakistan garrison town of Abbottabad, Khan said: “The Americans came to Abbottabad and killed, martyred Osama bin Laden. What happened after that? The entire world cursed at us and spoke ill of us”.
“We helped the Americans in ‘war on terror’ but the embarrassment we had to face for their allegations of Pakistan being a safe haven for terrorists is very terrible. Our ally is secretly coming into our country and killing a terrorist and we don’t even have an idea,” he added.
Khan also recalled US drone attacks in Pakistan saying the government at the time had opposed them. “When the former US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen was asked at a US Senate hearing why drone attacks were being carried out despite Pakistan’s objection, Mullen said they were carried out with the Pakistani government’s permission,” Khan said, adding that Pakistan did not know whether it was US’s ally or a foe in the war on terror.
