SOURCE: TNN
A Pakistani lawmaker, who recently spilled the beans on the tension within the Imran Khan government before the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, has said that he knows “many secrets” but never made any “irresponsible” statements.
Ayaz Sadiq, PML-N leader and former National Assembly speaker, told Dawn news that he stands by the remarks he made in the National Assembly but did not divulge any further details on what transpired after the capture of Varthaman.
During his speech in the National Assembly recently, Sadiq had revealed that Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa’s “legs were shaking” and he was “sweating” while foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a high-level meeting that India would attack by 9pm if they didn’t release Abhinandan.
Sadiq’s statement had invited the fury of both the ruling Imran Khan-led government and the powerful army, prompting the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) chief Major General Babar Iftikhar to hold a media briefing in which he sought to “correct the record” regarding the events.
The 37-year-old IAF pilot took down a Pakistani F-16 aircraft during a dogfight across the LoC on February 27 last year. He was captured by the Pakistani army after his MiG-21 Bison jet went down during the combat. The incident took place a day after IAF jets bombed the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terror camps in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan to avenge the Pulwama terror attack.
” … these are political differences. Their attempt to associate my statement with the armed forces of Pakistan was not a service to the country,” Dawn quoted Sadiq as saying.
“You (the government) have played into the hands of Indian media and you have not done justice to Pakistan. I am standing by my stance and you will see in future, I have many secrets. I had been heading the National Security Committee,” he added.
The Pakistan government, which went into damage control after the statement, claimed that there was “no pressure” on it to release Abhinandan
“The Government of Pakistan took the decision as a gesture of peace, which was appreciated by the international community,” foreign office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri told reporters during his weekly media briefing.
Pakistan’s information minister Shibli Faraz had hit out at Sadiq’s remarks, saying they are beyond apology and have “weakened” the state.
“The remarks by Ayaz Sadiq are beyond apology. Now the law will take its course. Weakening the state is an unforgivable crime for which Ayaz Sadiq and his companions must be punished,” Faraz said on Twitter.
Abhinandan was returned to India from the Attari-Wagah border on March 1, 2019. He was awarded the Vir Chakra on Independence Day by President Ram Nath Kovind for his exemplary bravery.
