Pakistan Opposition slams PM Imran Khan for calling Pakhtuns 'sympathisers' of Taliban in UNGA speech

The Opposition in Pakistan has slammed Prime Minister Imran Khan for calling Pakhtuns 'sympathisers of the Taliban' in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The criticism came from Awami National Party's Central General Secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Dawn reported.

"The Prime Minister twisted the history by saying that Pakhtuns were sympathiser of the Taliban," Hussain said adding that "We are Pakhtuns and have never been sympathisers of terrorists and Taliban, connecting Pakhtuns with such people was tantamount to distorting their history."

Hussain, who called himself a Pakhtun, also informed that about 80,000 people lost their lives in the war against terrorism and most of them were Pakhtuns including 144 students of Army Public School Peshawar, Dawn reported.

Imran Khan, in his virtual address to the 76th United Nations General Assembly, had said, " Pashtuns living in the semi-autonomous tribal belt along with the Afghanistan and Pakistan border always had affinity and sympathy towards the Taliban," which inflamed the Awami National Party.

( With inputs from ANI )