Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, called Osama Bin Laden a “martyr” during his address to the National Assembly of Pakistan Thursday.
PM Pakistan Imran Khan considers Osama bin Laden a martyr. pic.twitter.com/tax0t3V5wg
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The comment came while Khan was speaking to the National Assembly about how Pakistan was “humiliated” across the world despite its role in the war on terror, the Hindustan Times reported. “One was when Americans killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. Shaheed kar diya (was martyred),” said Khan. (RELATED: ‘We Live In A Cage’: Gangs Of Monkeys Take Over City In Thailand)
Khan was discussing his foreign policy as one of his administration’s greatest achievements, saying that Pakistan had been embarrassed in the past by two occasions, per the Hindustan Times. “The way we helped America in the ‘war on terror’ and the humiliation that my country had to face,” said Khan, “I don’t think there has ever been any other country that supported war on terror and had to face criticism from them.”
Opposition leaders quickly criticized the comment and distanced themselves from the prime minister, reported the Hindustan Times. “Remember that Osama Bin Laden can be the PM’s hero but not the nation’s,” said Sherry Rehman, a senator from the Pakistan Peoples Party, “He was and will remain a criminal of the state and the people.”
The comments also came a day after the United States State Department said that Pakistan had provided safety for terrorists, according to the Hindustan Times. Osama Bin Laden was killed in 2011 by US Navy Seals in Abbottabad, Pakistan.