On Saturday, PTI chairman Fawad Chaudhry claimed the “question” was not about Pakistan’s soil being utilised in the US drone assault that killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, but about its airspace, as he wanted a written statement from ministries.
The former minister appeared to be responding to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Babar Iftikhar’s recent comments on the subject. The DG ISPR ruled out the notion in a brief phone interview on Friday night, stating there is no question of Pakistani soil being used for “such a purpose.”
“The question is whether Pakistan’s airspace was authorised to be used or not,” Chaudhry remarked in a tweet today.”Repeated assertions about Pakistan’s land not being utilized are ambiguous,” Chaudhry remarked, emphasising that organizations are generally would need to publish a formal statement on the subject.
In a press conference yesterday, Chaudhry sought to know whether the US had exploited Pakistan’s airspace for a previous drone strike that killed Zawahiri. “The nation desires to know whether we will once again become a tool of the US against Al Qaeda,” he said.
When asked about the issue on the Naya Pakistan programme, the DG ISPR stated, “The Foreign Office has clarified everything in detail.” They’re all rumours, because anyone can post anything at all on social media. This is something we should avoid. Our adversary, in particular, distributes such information, and they (people) are exploited.”
