Dubai-based Arabic newspaper Emarat Al Youm has denied publishing any report about retired army chief Gen Raheel Sharif being stopped at a Saudi airport, calling the initial article that appeared online “fake”.
The fabricated news — claiming that the former chief of army staff, who is now heading the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT), was stopped from leaving the country by Saudi security forces — surfaced online on July 29.
However, Emarat Al Youm ran a clarification the next day, saying that the news was fabricated and posted on the website through a fake uniform resource locator (URL).
Gen Sharif had left for Riyadh from Lahore on April 21 to assume the command of the 41-nation IMAFT after the government cleared him to serve the coalition.
"This news is 'fabricated' and Emarat Al Youm has not published it," reads the clarification. “The group [behind the story] used a link similar to that of the newspaper website's URL [to] broadcast the false news."
The newspaper, which also ran images of the “fake news”, said that "it holds a legal right to pursue anyone who intentionally defames its image or uses its name to spread its lies and fabrications."
Security sources within Pakistan have also confirmed that the news about Raheel Sharif being stopped at the airport is false.
The foreign office spokesperson, however, refused to comment on the story during his weekly press briefing on Thursday.
Pakistani lawmakers have had their reservations about IMAFT since the news of Gen Sharif's induction to head it came to light.
In a session of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, held on June 21, PPP Senator Kareem Khawaja had voiced his dissatisfaction with Pakistan's role in the Gulf crisis and added that the former army chief should be asked to return to Pakistan voluntarily.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf Senator Shibli Faraz pointed out that if Sharif was asked to return back to Pakistan, relations with Saudi Arabia would be negatively affected.
However, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on June 21 told the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs that Gen Sharif had taken command of the 41-nation Saudi-led military coalition in his personal capacity, thus the government could not call him back.
