#Pakistani PM under fire for saying US ‘martyred’ Osama bin Laden

Critics on Friday slammed Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for telling Parliament that the US “martyred” al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, was killed in 2011 when US special forces raided his hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, an operation that Pakistan was not told of in advance.

“I will never forget how we Pakistanis were embarrassed when the Americans came into Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden, martyred him,” Khan said, the BBC reported.

“Imran Khan called Osama bin Laden shaheed. Bin Laden brought terrorism to our lands, he was a terrorist through and through and he [Khan] calls him shaheed?” said Pakistan Muslim League senior leader Khawaja Asif Asif during the National Assembly session, reported Dawn.com, an English-language Pakistani news site.

Shaheed is an Arabic term for martyr.

Asif ripped Khan, calling bin Laden an “ultimate terrorist.”

“He destroyed my nation, and [Khan] is calling him a martyr,” Asif told Parliament.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, whose Pakistan Peoples Party was in power when bin Laden was killed, accused the prime minister of appeasing violent extremism, according to the BBC.

Meena Gabeena, a high-profile Pakistani activist, tweeted: “Muslims all over the world are struggling because of the discrimination they face due to recent terrorism and our PM makes it worse by calling [Osama bin Laden] a martyr of Islam!”

Khan’s speech came as Pakistan rejected a US State Department report that said Pakistan remained a safe haven for terrorist groups.

“While the report recognizes that al Qaeda has been seriously degraded in the region, it neglects to mention Pakistan’s crucial role in decimating al Qaeda, thereby diminishing the threat that the terrorist group once posed to the world,” Pakistan’s foreign office said.

Khan, a former cricket player, has been criticized earlier as a Taliban sympathizer and was labeled “Taliban Khan” by opponents.