NANKANA SAHIB: Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah has strongly dismissed PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq’s statement over the circumstances in which Indian pilot Abhinandan was released.
Addressing a ceremony in Nankana Sahab today, Shah said that the federal government received several petitions seeking charges under Article 6 of the Constitution against former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq.
Shah further said the petitions, received in Islamabad and Lahore, have been sent for legal review. “Ayaz Sadiq has passed a very wrong statement about Indian pilot Abhinandan and the army chief,” Shah added.
The interior minister said he dismissed the allegations levelled against the Pakistan Army “from abroad”, and swore that all this was an attempt to secure the Opposition’s looted wealth.
Two senior PML-N lawmakers had earlier accused the PTI-led government of taking the decision to release Indian pilot Abhinandan under pressure.
“Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was present in the meeting, which Imran Khan had refused to attend,” Ayaz Sadiq had said in parliament on Wednesday, adding that Qureshi had “begged the Opposition to release Abhinandan or else India would attack Pakistan at 9 pm”.
“India never attacked Pakistan but the government nonetheless handed over Abhinandan to Indian authorities,” Sadiq had said.
The comments had kicked off a furor in Indian media, as channel upon channel and publication upon publication seized on Sadiq’s statement, misrepresented parts of it, and painted the picture that India had somehow prevailed over Pakistan in securing the downed pilot’s release.
Ayaz Sadiq’s clarification; in his defence, Sadiq lambasted the Indian media for “distorting” his comments. “One thing is clear: Abhinandan did not come to Pakistan to distribute sweets; he had attacked Pakistan,” the PML-N leader said.
However, Sadiq, in a pointed attack directed at Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, also asked if the decision to release Abhinandan was made “on dictation” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah’s statement comes a day after Information Minister Shibli Faraz hinted at legal action against the PML-N leader over his controversial claims regarding the circumstances surrounding the release of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.
On Friday, Shibli Faraz had hinted at legal action against the former National Assembly speaker for accusing the incumbent government of caving to Indian pressure. “What Ayaz Sadiq said is not forgivable,” he wrote in a tweet.
“Now the law will take its course. Faraz asserted that weakening the state is an “unpardonable offense, and promised that Sadiq and his followers would be punished for it”, he added.
ایاز صادق کی کہی ہوئی بات معافی سے آگے نکل چکی ہے۔اب قانون اپنا راستہ لے گا۔ریاست کو کمزور کرنا ناقابل معافی جرم ہے جس کی سزاایاز صادق اور ان کے حواریوں کو ضرور ملنی چاہیے۔
— Senator Shibli Faraz (@shiblifaraz) October 30, 2020
In February 2019, Indian Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s MiG-21 plane was shot down by Pakistan Air Force in an aerial dogfight over Azad Jammu Kashmir. The aerial battle had almost brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of a new war.
After his capture, the Pakistani military had released a video showing him sipping a cup of tea and politely refusing to answer questions. He was released after a 60-hour detention period as a peace gesture from Pakistan aimed at defusing tensions.
