Ayaz Sadiq accuses Indian media of ‘misquoting’ him on Abhinandan release

A day after his speech provided grist to the Indian propaganda mill to mock Pakistan’s military, senior PML-N politician Ayaz Sadiq accused India’s jingoistic media of “misreporting and misquoting” him.

What was the “grist”? A speech by Ayaz Sadiq on the floor of the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Sadiq implied in his speech that the PTI government had buckled under fear of an Indian attack and released an Indian pilot captured during last year’s military standoff between the two hostile neighbours.

He claimed that the government had begged the parliamentary leaders to let Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman go.

“I can recall [foreign minister] Shah Mahmood Qureshi sahib was present in a meeting, where the prime minister didn’t show up. The chief of army staff was also in attendance,” Sadiq said while responding to a cabinet member.

“With his legs trembling and sweat on the forehead, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said to us, ‘For God’s sake, let him [Abhinandan] go back now or else India would attack at 9pm’,” he claimed. “No attack was imminent; they only wanted to capitulate and send Abhinandan back.”

The Indian propaganda mill went into overdrive using Sadiq’s comments to mock the Pakistani military. Subsequently, Sadiq also drew the government’s wrath for “playing to the Indian gallery”.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Sadiq issued a video statement on Thursday to clarify that the Indian social media posts and TV channel reports about his speech were “totally contrary” to what he had actually said in parliament.

“Abhinandan had not come to Pakistan to give out sweets. He had attacked Pakistan and it was a victory for Pakistan when his warplane was downed,” Sadiq says in the video message.

Sadiq, who is also former speaker of the National Assembly, said Prime Minister Imran Khan had convened a meeting of parliamentary leaders but “could not muster courage” to face them because he was “worried and sweating”.

“The prime minister appeared to be under pressure, but he didn’t tell us who was pressuring him or on whose instructions he was doing this. He didn’t show up at the meeting which he himself had convened,” Sadiq alleged.

According to him, it was Qureshi who had told the parliamentary leaders that the “civil leadership” decided to release Abhinandan in greater "national interest".

“We were not on board. There was no need to hurry; you could have waited. But it was done in national interest. Imran Khan’s decision betrayed weakness of the civil leadership.”

Qureshi angrily reacted to Sadiq’s statement which, he said, was “contrary to facts”. “I didn’t expect Ayaz Sadiq to say such a thing,” he said, adding that parliament had been taken into confidence over the intelligence information received regarding tensions with India. This information didn’t involve Abhinandan, he added.

“Such irresponsible statements are being given only to gain political mileage,” he said, accusing the opposition of “misleading” the nation on Abhinandan and Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.

“We don't want to give India a chance to take Pakistan to the International Court of Justice again,” he added. “An attempt is being made to make the issue of Abhinandan controversial for no reason.”