PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday questioned whether Pakistan’s airspace was the “issue” and asked for a formal response from ministries after Ayman Al Zawahiri, the leader of Al Qaeda, was killed in a US drone strike.
The former minister reportedly made reference to previous comments made on the subject by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Babar Iftikhar DG ISPR. The DG ISPR ruled out the notion in a brief phone interview with Geo News last night, stating that there was no doubt of Pakistani soil being utilised for “such a purpose.”
In a tweet today, Chaudhry wrote: “The question is whether Pakistan’s airspace was allowed to be used to not.”
Chaudhry asked to know whether Pakistan’s airspace had been utilised by the US for a recent drone operation that killed Zawahiri during a press conference yesterday. The nation wants to know if we would once more be used as a tool by the US to fight Al Qaeda, he said.
The DG ISPR responded, “The Foreign Office has clarified everything in detail,” when questioned about the issue on the Geo News show Naya Pakistan. Because anyone may post anything on social media, they are all rumours. This should not happen. Such information is spread, especially by our opponent, and the victims are taken advantage of.
The United States carried out a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday morning and killed Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who had a $25 million bounty on his head for helping coordinate the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Immediately after it was reported, a number of PTI leaders raised questions about Pakistan’s role in the attack, prompting the ISPR clarification.
Imran Khan, the former premier, cautioned that “giving airspace to America” could harm relations with Afghanistan in an interview with Express News earlier this week.
“Our tribal lands will be impacted if we offer space and America launches a drone attack in Afghanistan. In the midst of these challenges, do we wish to join someone else’s war?” he had said.
