Pakistan: Ex-Premier Sharif in another row with army

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan’s beleaguered former Premier Nawaz Sharif is coming under fire from all sides after accusing the country’s powerful army of turning a blind eye to the militants involved in the 2008 Mumbai, India terrorist attacks, which killed over 150 people.

The controversy was set off by Sharif’s Saturday interview in local English daily, telling the paper: “Militant organizations are active [in Pakistan]. 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?”

He was referring to a trial pending for the last several years, with Pakistan accusing India of not sharing evidence that could help end the trial. New Delhi, for its part, accuses Islamabad of failing to pursue the trial properly.

Sharif’s outburst swiftly propelled the army to request Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to summon an urgent National Security Council meeting on Monday to discuss the “misleading statement”.

The country’s two main opposition parties -- the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf of former cricket hero Imran Khan -- have both criticized Sharif for his remarks, and questioned his own performance in tackling the issue during his time in office.

Pakistani and Indian media, especially TV channels, are playing up Sharif’s interview as a “breach of national interest” or alternately a tacit admission of Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai carnage.

Attempting damage control, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N, Nawaz’s group) heaped blame on the media for “misinterpreting” the interview.

“The statement of Nawaz Sharif has been grossly misinterpreted by the Indian media," a statement from an unnamed PML-N spokesperson said on Monday.

"Unfortunately, a section of Pakistani electronic and social media has intentionally or unintentionally not only validated but has lent credence to the malicious propaganda of Indian media without going through the full facts of the statement," it added.

Sharif, who was ousted last July by the country’s top court for hiding a foreign work visa, last year also irked the army over suggesting the military’s weakness in the face of militant groups.

The story containing Sharif's suggestion was published by the same newspaper and penned by the same reporter who interviewed him on Saturday.

The issue, however, had settled down after Perwaiz Rasheed, then-information minister and Sharif’s close aide, and some other officials were sacked in May 2017.

Along with his daughter and other family members, Sharif, whose party came to power through a landslide victory in 2013, is already facing three corruption allegations, which, he claims, are “cooked up” and aimed at ousting him and his party from politics.

In November 2008, in 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai lasting for four days, members of Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba killed 164 people and injured over 300.