Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Saturday he was “taken aback” after the Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement distancing itself from the controversy surrounding the supposed inclusion of columnist Shama Junejo in Pakistan’s delegation for a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting.

On September 25, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had addressed a UNSC session on artificial intelligence. However, photos from his speech had spread like wildfire on social media platform X as users had pointed to Junejo sitting in the background and shared several screenshots from her Twitter (now X) timeline from several years ago, expressing support for Israel.

Following social media furore, Asif said on X that Junejo’s presence at the session was at the FO’s discretion. For its part, the FO clarified that she was not listed in the official letter of credence for the Pakistan delegation to the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session.

The matter came up during Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’ today, where Asif was asked whether he was “taken aback” by the FO’s statement.

“I was taken aback, rather I was a bit disturbed that such people could be with the delegation whom no one owns later,” Asif replied.

He further clarified people getting photographed with him abroad was not unusual and while Junejo, too, had a photograph with him a hotel lobby, he did not know her.

The defence minister reiterated that he was “taken aback” after he saw Junejo with the delegation but he did not ask anyone about her presence.

When asked whether she was Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech writer and had written the prime minister’s speech at the UNGA, Asif replied in the negative. He clarified that according to the information he had, Junejo did not have any official position, be it of an adviser or a special assistant.

Asif’s and FO’s clarifications on X

Earlier, Asif had clarified on X that he had given the speech instead of PM Shehbaz at the UNSC session as the latter had other engagements; the premier has been attending the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

“This woman or whoever sat behind me was and is at the discretion of the Foreign Office,” Asif said.

The defence minister said that for the past 60 years, he had an emotional attachment and personal commitment to the Palestine cause. He added that he had Palestinian friends and colleagues while working in Abu Dhabi and was still in contact with them.

“My views on Gaza are clear and I express them openly,” he said, expressing his hatred for Israel and Zionism.

“Who is this woman, why is she with the delegation, and why was she seated behind me? Only the FO can answer these questions. It is not appropriate for me to respond on their behalf,” Asif said.

He said that his account on X was a testament to the fact that his relationship with Palestine was part of his faith.

Subsequently, in a post on X late on Friday night, the FO said that it had noted the queries regarding “the seating of a certain individual behind the defence minister at a recent meeting of the UNSC”. The FO did not explicitly name Junejo.

“To clarify, the individual in question was not listed in the official letter of credence for the Pakistan delegation to the 80th UNGA session, signed by the deputy prime minister and foreign minister,” it said.

“As such, her seating behind the defence minister did not have the approval of the deputy prime minister/foreign minister,” it added.

Meanwhile, Junejo also took to X and posted screenshots of previous posts where she had called out Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“Youthias are calling me a Zionist when for the past two years I have tweeted about Gaza almost daily, calling [Israeli PM] Netanyahu a war criminal and showing Israeli atrocities,” she said.

The term “youthia” is a derogatory term commonly used as a slur for PTI supporters.

“Once again, this entire campaign has been launched against me because they only fear me,” she said.

Uproar

Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari had stated that one could not sit behind a minister in the UNSC or the United Nations General Assembly unless they were identified as an official representative of the government.

“So who allowed this to happen and why? Is there a covert policy agenda at work viz rogue entity Israel, Bagram base, Abraham Accords? GoP needs to come clean — who is responsible?” she asked.

Mehlaqa Samdani, the director of the Community Alliance For Peace and Justice, said: “To include Shama Junejo, who champions a pro-Israel and pro-normalisation agenda, in Pakistan’s #UNGA delegation is not a good look for Pakistan.”

Meanwhile, journalist Ahmad Noorani said that questioning Junejo’s patriotism or “branding her ‘pro-Israel’ over her views on diplomacy is disgraceful”.

“This vile smear campaign is being pushed by dirty-minded trolls,” he said.