Imran Khan Calls Osama Bin Laden 'Martyr' in Pakistan National Assembly, Watch Video

Islamabad, June 25: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday called former Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden shaheed or martyr. Imran Khan was addressing Pakistan's National Assembly when he said: "Osama Bin Laden was martyred". Khan further said Pakistan is being humiliated despite its continuous support to the global war on terror. The video of Khan's speech is now going viral on social media. Pakistan Remains in FATF's 'Grey List' as Imran Khan Govt Failed to Check Terror Funding to LeT, JeM.

Khan can be heard saying in the video: "We were very embarrassed when Americans came and killed Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad and martyred him." Laden was killed in a special operation by US special forces on May 2, 2011, at his compound in Abbottabad. He was reportedly the brain behind the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States in 2001. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the 9/11 terror attack when five passenger planes were used as missiles to attack American cities.

Imran Khan Calls Osama Bin Laden 'Martyr' in Pakistan National Assembly:

Khan's remarks came a day after the United States lashed out at Pakistan for continuing to be a safe haven for terror outfits and for failing to prosecute Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) Mumbai attack mastermind Sajid Mir. The State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism said: "Islamabad has yet to take decisive actions against Indian- and Afghanistan-focused militants."

Pakistan has "made no effort to use domestic authorities to prosecute other terrorist leaders such as JeM founder Masood Azhar and Sajid Mir, the mastermind of LeT's 2008 Mumbai attacks, both of whom are widely believed to reside in Pakistan under the protection of the state, despite government denials," said the report released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "Pakistan continued to serve as a safe haven for certain regionally-focused terrorist groups," the report said.

The report, however, also acknowledged that "Pakistan took modest steps in 2019 to counter terror financing and to restrain some India-focused militant groups following the February attack on a security convoy in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir claimed by Pakistan-based JeM".

The global terror financing watchdog, FATF, on Wednesday decided to keep Pakistan in the "Grey List" as it has failed to check flow of money to terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The FATF had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018, placing at least 27 conditions for compliance review on September 2019.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 25, 2020 07:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).