Pakistan PM Imran Khan Slammed For Expressing Osama Bin Laden Was “Martyred”

Islamabad:

Pakistan’s Key Minister Imran Khan confronted a growing backlash on Thursday right after he said previous Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden experienced been “martyred”.

Imran Khan made the remark in parliament as he was describing the heritage of Pakistan’s troubled relations with the US due to the fact American specific forces killed bin Laden in 2011 in the northern city of Abbottabad.

“The People arrived to Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden. Martyred him,” Imran Khan claimed.

The primary minister faced blowback from opposition figures and observers following the televised speech.

“Imran Khan has fiddled with background, declaring Osama bin Laden as a martyr these days,” previous international minister Khawaja Asif advised parliament.

“Muslims all in excess of the world are having difficulties simply because of the discrimination they facial area because of to the latest terrorism & our PM makes it even worse by contacting obl a martyr of Islam!” Meena Gabeena, a Pakistani activist, reported on Twitter.

Pakistan has formally denied being aware of bin Laden was hiding in the place right up until he was shot useless in a night time-time raid on May well 2, 2011.

The incident was a important nationwide embarrassment and triggered previously-tenuous ties amongst the US and Pakistan to fray further more.

Asad Durrani, a previous spymaster, advised Al Jazeera in 2015 that Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Solutions Intelligence (ISI) company very likely understood exactly where he was hiding and hoped to use him as a bargaining chip.

The 9/11 mastermind was tracked down following a 10-yr manhunt to Abbottabad, a garrison city north of Islamabad where by Pakistan’s military services academy is headquartered, sparking allegations authorities had been colluding with the terror team.

Imran Khan has produced repeated controversial statements around the many years, such as through a trip to the US in 2019 when he claimed the ISI offered Washington with a lead that aided them discover and eliminate bin Laden.

The cricketer-turned leading has extensive been criticised by opponents for overly sympathising with militants, with rivals once dubbing him “Taliban Khan”.