NEW YORK: Donald Trump, who has seen off 17 challengers to become the Republican Party’s only remaining presidential candidate, seems to be backtracking from his remarks about banning Muslims from entering the United States.

After a campaign full of controversial statements, he said on Thursday that “it was only a suggestion”.

“We have a serious problem and it’s a temporary ban — it hasn’t been called for yet, nobody’s done it, this is just a suggestion until we find out what’s going on,” Trump told Fox News.

Donald Trump had promised a “complete and total shutdown” on Muslims coming to America in the wake of the Paris attacks in November and the San Bernardino attack in December 2015. Both attacks were claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

“Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victim of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” said Trump in December.

Five months ago he had released a statement that explicitly said: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2016