FM Qureshi dismisses Israeli aircraft reports as ‘baseless’
October 27, 2018
MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday dismissed reports of an Israeli aircraft landing in Pakistan as fake and baseless, after an Israeli journalist's claim triggered strong responses by politicians and social media users.
Addressing a press conference, Qureshi said that something which is not even real does not warrant a response.
An Israeli journalist earlier this week sparked a storm of speculation on social media when he tweeted that an aircraft flew from Tel Aviv to Islamabad.
Avi Scharf, editor of Israeli newspaper Haaretz, said in his tweet that the alleged plane did not directly fly from the Israeli capital into Islamabad. Instead, it followed a trick flight route by landing in Amman briefly to make it look like an Amman-Islamabad flight rather than a Tel Aviv-Islamabad flight.
The tweet triggered a range of rumours on social media, with PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal one of many seeking an explanation from the government on the matter.
Earlier today, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also responded to Iqbal’s tweet saying that the government would neither hold any secret dialogue with India nor Israel.
“The reality is that Imran Khan is not Nawaz Sharif nor his cabinet has fake Aristotles like you. We will neither hold any secret dialogue with Modi nor Israel,” the minister replied in Urdu.
“If you were so worried about Pakistan as you pretend to be, we wouldn’t be in this situation. Don’t show fake worry, Pakistan is in safe hands,” Chaudhry lashed out at the former minister.
