ISLAMABAD:
The Foreign Office (FO) has sought to distance itself from a controversy over the presence of columnist Shama Junejo at Pakistan’s United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting, after her appearance triggered widespread debate online.
In a clarification issued on X late Friday night, the FO, without naming Junejo, said, “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”.
“As such, her seating behind the defence minister did not have the approval of the deputy prime minister/foreign minister,” the statement added.
The controversy erupted on September 25 when Defence Minister Khawaja Asif addressed a UNSC session on artificial intelligence. Photos from the event spread rapidly on social media platform X, showing Junejo seated behind the minister. Users also resurfaced several of her past posts allegedly supportive of Israel, sparking fierce criticism.
Clarifying the matter, Asif said he had spoken at the session in place of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who was engaged elsewhere while 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 told reporters. He stressed his personal and long-standing commitment to the Palestinian cause and recalled his friendships and ties with Palestinians from his years in Abu Dhabi.
“For the past 60 years, I have had an emotional attachment and personal commitment to Palestine,” the minister said. “My views on Gaza are clear and I express them openly. I hate 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.”
He pointed to his record on X as proof of his faith-driven solidarity with Palestine.
Responding to the uproar, Junejo herself turned to X, posting screenshots of her recent commentary on 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 wrote, using a derogatory term often applied to PTI supporters.
“Once again, this entire campaign has been launched against me because they only fear me,” she added.
The episode prompted reactions from across the political and civic spectrum. Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari asserted 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?”
