Islamabad (Pakistan): Pakistan Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had a "slip of the tongue " when he called slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden a martyr. While speaking to Geo News, Chaudhry said that Pakistan considers Osama Bin Laden a terrorist and al-Qaeda as a terrorist outfit.
In June last year, during an address to the National Assembly, the Prime Minister had recalled how the Americans had conducted an operation in Abbottabad and "killed Osama Bin Laden -- martyred him". A viral video clip showed how Imran Khan lashed out at the United States for how Laden had been killed in Abbottabad. Khan said, "shaheed kar diya".
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, most recently, in an interview with TOLO News, claimed that Khan's remarks were taken "out of context". "He [PM Imran Khan] was quoted out of context. And, uh, you know, a particular section of the media played it up," he added. "I will let that pass," said Qureshi, after a brief pause, when he was asked whether he disagreed that bin Laden was a martyr. Imran Khan was on the receiving end of global rebuke for his comments calling bin Laden a 'martyr'.