NEW YORK, Feb 04 (DNA): Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram on Saturday
clarified his controversial remarks regarding Pakhtun culture after
heavy backlash from Pakhtuns and human rights activists in both
Afghanistan and Pakistan.

After the statements made by Ambassador Akram received hefty criticism,
he clarified that the intentions were not to target anyone and his
remarks were misunderstood.

In response to the queries of a media outlet, Mr Akram said he “regrets
if his remarks were misunderstood or hurt anyone’s feelings. There was
no disrespect meant to Pashtun culture which is highly progressive and
deserves full respect across the world”.

Mr Akram made the controversial comments during a briefing at the UN in
New York on Wednesday, in which the ambassador linked the Taliban
government’s restrictions on women with the Pakhtun culture.

He stated that, “The restrictions that have been put by the Afghan
interim government, flow not so much from a religious perspective as
from a peculiar cultural perspective of the Pashtun culture, which
requires women to be kept at home. And this is a peculiar, distinctive
cultural reality of Afghanistan which has not changed for hundreds of
years.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Islamabad had
sought details of the ambassador’s statement and the context in which it
might have been made. DNA