ISLAMABAD: After stirring up a hornet’s nest with a hard-hitting speech against retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif issued on Friday a statement denouncing the media for its “false and misleading” coverage of his remarks and reaffirmed his support and respect for the armed forces.

The media furore over his remarks was triggered when the minister, speaking in the National Assembly on March 31, praised the decision to try Mr Musharraf and described the trial as “an important event in the history of Pakistan”.

The next day, in an appearance on a TV show, he went further and talked about bringing to justice all those who had played a role in the illegal actions of Nov 3, 2007.

The statement said, “(A) misunderstanding cropped up based on my speeches delivered many years back... in a different context and in a different environment. It was neither my intention and nor my objective to undermine (the army), which I hold in high esteem”.

The speech referred to in the statement was delivered in the National Assembly in 2006, and was rerun repeatedly by some TV channels after the minister’s tiff with the army became public.

This prompted a reaction from army chief Gen Raheel Sharif who, in his address to a group of Special Services Group commandos at the Ghazi Base near Tarbela, warned critics against undermining the military’s institutional morale.

An ISPR statement noted that the army chief had made the remarks in response to “the concerns of soldiers on undue criticism of the institution (army) in recent days”.