Imran Khan, a legendary cricket player-turned politician, demanded an apology on Friday from the United States following a magazine report that US interrogators in Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Holy Quran. Newsweek magazine, in its latest edition, quoted sources as saying that investigators probing abuses at the military prison had discovered that interrogators "had placed Korans [copies of the Holy Quran] on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet".
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman told a news conference that Pakistan, as a frontline state in the US-led war on terrorism, should seek an apology, an inquiry and assurances from the United States that those responsible would be punished.
"This war on terrorism is self-defeating if, on the one hand, you are demanding that we help them (the United States) and, on the other hand, they are desecrating the book on which our entire faith is based. The entire world knows that; even the Americans know how sacred that book is," Khan told reporters.
The PTI chief said he had called on the National Assembly to take up the issue.
A high-level US military investigation into accusations of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay has still to be completed and released.
The United States is holding over 500 prisoners from its war on terrorism at the naval base on Cuba.
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