NSC meeting over Sharif's '26/11' statement concludes

Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC) met on Monday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to discuss "misleading media statement" attributed to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's on the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Following a backlash in international and local media, Pakistan Army Spokesperson Major Asif Ghafoor had announced that the NSC meeting had been called to clarify the Pakistan's stance on the statement, Geo News reported.

Top military leaders, the acting foreign minister, chiefs of the navy and air force and other top civil officials of the government attended the meeting at the Abbasi's house.

Sharif in an interview given to the Dawn newspaper had said on Saturday, "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?"

It is being seen as an admission of Pakistan's involvement in the terrorist attack in 2008.

On May 13, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) had issued a clarification stating that Nawaz's remarks were "grossly misinterpreted by Indian media".

Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed to Mumbai in November 2008 from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks that killed 166 people and injured over 300. Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Chief Hafeez Saeed is the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The case is now in its 10th year, but Pakistan is yet to punish any of the suspects.